The alphorn, sometimes called the alpenhorn, is a trumpet- like musical instrument made of wood used by mountain dwellers in Switzerland and elsewhere. It is thought to have the perfect form for a musical wind instrument.
The alphorn has been around for nearly 500 years, first as a means of communications in the high alps, and later as a musical instrument that has been featured in works by composers like Brahms and Leopold Mozart.
Up in the high meadows the lone herdsmen would play melodies on their alphorns to call the cows together, to calm them during milking or storms, and to communicate with each other and with the village below. The sound echo around the mountains and valleys and could be heard up to six miles away.
Barbara Oldham, hornist in the Quintet of America and a Prof. of Music at NYU,
will play the alphorn before our Banff Mountain Film Festival in New York starting
at 7:15 each night and during the intermission.
Come early, visit the sponsor tables, fill out the ballot to win some great
prizes, buy some raffle tickets to support the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference,
and hear Barbara Oldham play the alphorn.
