Richard Mingus, MMus

Instructor in Music - Horn

Richard Mingus has been a sessional instructor of French horn at TWU since 2007.  He is the First Assistant Horn with the Vancouver Symphony, a position he has held since 1983 and is busy in the free-lance community with recordings for movies and TV as well as participating with many chamber groups.  He plays principal horn with the Willingdon Church Orchestra of Burnaby and held the 3rd horn position with the CBC Radio Orchestra until its demise in 2009. 

Mr. Mingus also teaches at UBC where he has developed a Horn Ensemble Class in which students are encouraged to play for their peers for critiques and also combine to form large and small horn only ensembles.  These rehearsals lead to a massive Spring Recital every year.  TWU students are invited to audit the class on Tuesdays from 1:00 to 3:00.

Richard was raised near New York City where he had ample access to great teachers and great performances.  He studied mostly with Arthur Goldstein.  He received his Bachelor of Music Education from Oberlin Conservatory of Music near Cleveland, Ohio and received his Masters in Performance from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio and Yale Summer School of Music and Art in Norfolk, Connecticut. 

He began his professional career as Principal Horn of the Calgary Philharmonic from 1974 – 1979.  Next came a stint as Principal Horn with the Maracaibo Symphony Orchestra in Venezuela, and in 1982, he landed in Vancouver.  He has played every position in the Vancouver section including a 3 year term as acting principal, and is likely one of very few players to have performed all the horn parts for most of the great Symphonies.

Some of the chamber music groups Rich plays with are:

  • The Easter Brass Quintet
  • Trilogy Brass (Brass Trio)
  • Solo recitals with Holden Bowker of Bowker Brothers fame are given in area churches, retirement homes, and universities or anywhere else they are asked to perform. He also performs with Ellen Wang.

In their spare time, Richard and his wife Nancy Anne love to jog, hike, travel, play tennis, and take pictures.  But most of all, they enjoy being grandparents.  Current count is two grandkids.  They make their home in Ladner, near Vancouver, BC.

  • MMus (Ohio)
  • BME (Oberlin)

Expertise

Horn

  • Applied Music Lessons - Horn