Ifor James

Professor Ifor James (30 August 1931 – 23 December 2004) was a horn player and teacher, numbering among his pupils many future Principal Horns and horn professors at British music schools.

James was born in

from 1955 to 1961, and was much in demand for chamber recitals and solo work.

Moving to London, he played as principal horn with many orchestras and chamber groups. He was appointed professor of horn at the Royal Academy of Music and was made a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music (FRAM) in 1969. He was principal horn of the English Chamber Orchestra, and horn player in the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, with whom he toured the world and made over 30 recordings. He was also appointed professor for horn at the Royal Northern College of Music (Manchester). His final teaching appointment was as professor for horn at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik, Freiburg, Germany.

His musical taste was eclectic and he was for some time the principal

Brass Band of the Year Competition with them.

He was known among his students for sending them on curious errands such as paying hotel bills. He also had a puckish sense of humour. One former student recalls an incident where the two of them were at traffic lights in James' open-topped Morris Minor when a pretty girl walked alongside. James encouraged the younger man to "pinch her bottom as the lights go green, and I'll drive off". Needless to say when the young man did as bidden, James stayed put and turned to grin at the girl.

Welsh to the core, he famously averred that he only played the horn because he could not sing.

His former students include over 100 professional musicians, over 30 of them currently principal horn players with orchestras in numerous countries. Nine are professors at music colleges, two are the principals of German music colleges and a further six are noted soloists.

At the 2005 British Horn Festival tributes to James were read out by

).

References

• Profile of Ifor James in The Horn Player, journal of the British Horn Society, 2005.
• Profile from the International Horn Society
• obituary from the
  Daily Telegraph