Ensemble Players

Jennifer Hart Merrell, a native of Brevard, NC, attended Brevard Music Center’s summer music program during her high school and college years. While at UNC Greensboro, she played with the Greensboro and Winston-Salem Symphonies as well as winning numerous awards and solo competitions. She got her Masters of Music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, studying with Dave Krehbiel. After moving to Chicago, she studied with Dale Clevenger, Gail Williams and Glen Estrin. Jennifer performed with area orchestras and was a member of the Civic Orchestra. She was also invited to participate on a five week tour with the Rotary Club International Orchestra in Europe. In 1992, Jennifer played with the New World Symphony in Miami Beach. The following summer, she traveled to Norway on a grant study to assist world class musician, Froydis Ree Wekre, complete her book on horn technique, Thoughts on Playing the Horn well, which has since been published. Her own book The Horn Player’s Guide to Care and Maintenance was published the summer of 2000. After returning to Brevard, Jennifer was a recipient of the Transylvania Arts Council Emerging Artist Award. She became a member of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra and is currently third horn with Greenville Symphony Orchestra. She has taught horn at Clemson University and Southern Wesleyan College, and currently teaches private lessons. She has collaborated on several CD’s with Ron Clearfield, titled “Dream Manifestation” and “Time on Earth”, as well as with James Reese’s on, “Music…with the Master’s Purpose in Mind”. Jennifer’s other projects have been as artistic director of the Wintersun Concert Series, which featured local artists in solo recitals at the Wintersun Inn. The program, which ran for two seasons, supported a scholarship fund for students at the North Carolina School of the Arts. Jennifer also organized and performed Miles Davis’ “Birth of the Cool”, bringing together local jazz musicians and Donald Harrison, to play these famous nonets at Jazz Brevard on August 14, 1999, which as later played on NPR. She performed six years with Mountain Chamber Players, who has collaborated with such musicians as Joe Robinson, and Eric Ewazen, Composer in Residence at Julliard School of Music. They recorded a collection of chamber pieces, titled “Horizons” and were selected on the NC Touring Roster for 2000. She is also a piano technician, helps her husband remodel homes and has a wonderful daughter.