Horn

Hunter Sholar joined the Nashville Symphony Orchestra in 2007. He grew up in North Carolina and began playing extra horn with the North Carolina Symphony in 1994 at the age of 17. He was the winner of their Concerto Competition, performing Strauss’s First Horn Concerto and Mozart’s Third Horn Concerto with the Orchestra in 1994 and 1995.

He received a BMus (class of 1999) in Horn Performance from Northwestern University, studying with Gail Williams, Bill Barnewitz, Norman Schweikert and Barry Benjamin. While still a junior at Northwestern, Hunter won a position with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic as Fourth Horn, a position he held from 1998-2000. After that, he played temporary positions with various orchestras, including three years with the Saint Louis Symphony (2000-2003), and one-year positions with the Florida Orchestra (2005-2006) and the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra (2006-2007).

Hunter is also a member of the Santa Fe Opera, where he plays Second Horn in the summer (since 2005), along with periodically appearing with the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. He has also performed at the Grand Teton Music Festival (2001-2007), and has played extra horn with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Sarasota Orchestra (formerly the Florida West Coast Symphony), Chicago Chamber Musicians and Kansas City Summerfest. He has also been a member of the Colorado Music Festival and the Oregon Mozart Players. 

Hunter teaches horn privately and is also a seasoned studio session player, active in the Nashville recording industry after previous years of recording in other areas of the country including Indianapolis and Seattle. 

He enjoys spending time with his wife, their two boys, along with the family cat, Erda. He is an avid disc golfer, and also enjoys practicing yoga, hiking, backpacking, camping, mountain biking and trail running.