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Auburn High School 405 S. Dean Rd. Auburn, AL 36830 (334) 887-2117 __________ |
| Auburn High School Band Alumni Profiles: William Capps |
William (Billy) Capps was a member of the Auburn High School Band from 1955-1959,
and is currently the professor of horn and director of the Horn Choir at Florida State University. While at Auburn High,
he qualified for a spot in the Alabama Bandmasters All-State White Band his sophomore year on trumpet. However,
on the suggestion of the his instructor at the Florida State Music Camp that summer, Capps switched to French horn in the fall.
Some six months after moving to horn, Capps made Blue Band, followed his senior year by sitting first chair, Red Band. Capps is the only
Auburn High School Band member to ever win the Herbert Music Award three years consecutively.
After graduating from Auburn High, Capps attended the Curtis Institute of Music, studying under Mason Jones. Upon graduation from the Curtis Institute, Capps received a Fullbright Scholarship to study in Berlin. After three months in Berlin, Capps joined the Berlin Radio Orchestra as co-principal horn. Capps' other former positions include principal horn for the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Spoleto Festival Orchestra, the Philadelphia Little Symphony, the United States Marine Orchestra, and the "President's Own" United States Marine Band. He has been soloist for the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, and has performed with the Savannah Symphony, the Jacksonville Symphony, the Florida Orchestra, the Florida Philharmonic and the Atlanta Symphony. Capps is internationally known as an adjudicator for competitions including the American Horn Competition, the Paxman Horn Competition in London and for the International Horn Society Workshops, and has given master classes in horn at the major conservatories and schools of music in the Europe including the Royal Academy of Music in London, the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, the Hochschule fur Musik in Vienna and the two National Conservatories of France in Paris and Lyon as well as at many American institutions including the New England Conservatory and the Cincinnati Conservatory.
© Trey Armistead, 2001. Last revised 16 April 2001.
Related sites
• Band History
• Awards and Honors
• All-State Members
• Individual Awards
