As a young, female French horn soloist, Meryl Sole has used her style, musicality, and enthusiasm to reinvent the image of a French horn player. After earning her bachelor’s degree in music at the University of Pennsylvania, Meryl went on to secure a master’s degree in horn performance at Boston University’s College of Fine Arts. It was there that she developed her talent in earnest, playing with the Boston University Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra as well as with the Meloria Woodwind Quintet.
At home on the stage, she has performed Mozart’s Horn Concerto No.1 before an audience of 900, an honor she received as the first prize recipient of PENN’s Concerto Competition. Meryl is also an alumnae of the New York Youth Symphony. In the spring of 2000, she performed the Beethoven Horn Sonata at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. Following a recital performance in Philadelphia, The Ethical Culture Society reviewer called her playing, “hauntingly rich musical fare to satisfy the spirit”.
Since returning home to New York Meryl has been freelancing with local orchestras such as the National Opera Center, the Richmond County Orchestra, the Cosmopolitan Symphony, the Regina Opera Company, The 92nd Street Y Orchestra, the Greater Newburgh Symphony, and various chamber groups including the Savako Trio. In 2003, she revisited Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 1, with the Musica Bella Orchestra of New York.
After being invited to become a member and scholarship recipient at the Pen and Brush Club of New York, a women’s art society, she was asked to perform a solo recital at the club. A recent chamber music recital at the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew featured her in the Brahms Horn Trio.
Meryl also teaches private music lessons to brass students all over the New York metropolitan area. She is an adjunct faculty member at the music departments of Adelphi University and Nassau Community College.
Principal teachers include soloist Eric Ruske, Michelle Baker of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Erik Ralske of the New York Philharmonic, and Jeffry Kirschen of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
