Dylan Skye Hart Horn Interview
Welcome to the show notes for Episode #2 of Horn Signal! This episode features one of the busiest studio horn players in Los Angeles, Dylan Skye Hart.
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About Dylan Skye Hart
You may not know Dylan Skye Hart by name, but you have heard him play horn. Proud Latino and Los Angeles native, Dylan is a busy freelance musician. Depending on the day, he can be found recording for video games, motion pictures, theme parks, or television shows.
He has recorded films with many great composers including John Williams, Hans Zimmer, John Powell, Randy Newman, Alexandre Desplat, James Newton Howard, Bruce Broughton, David Newman, and Alan Silvestri. Some movie titles on which Dylan can be heard playing principal horn include: Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker, Jungle Cruise, Onward, It 2, Call of the Wild, Ready Player One, Deadpool 2, Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi, Violent Night, and The Jungle Book. Dylan has also recorded albums and appeared on television with music legends Lady Gaga, John Legend, Michael Bublé, Sting, Stevie Wonder, Wu-Tang Clan, M83, Gladys Night, Yo-Yo Ma, Neil Young, and The Beatles. His solos can be heard on his namesake Bob Dylan’s albums Shadows in the Night and Fallen Angel.
Dylan has toured with John Williams’ Star Wars in Concert, Eden Espinosa of Wicked, and The Who, doubling on horn, trumpet, trombone, Wagner tuba, and mellophone. In the orchestral world, Dylan is principal horn of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and recently won a one-year position as associate principal horn of the Minnesota Orchestra. He also performs regularly with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, and San Diego Symphony. Dylan is a member of the Los Angeles Horn Quartet and Modern Brass Quintet.
In addition, Dylan co-produced the 75-minute film documentary entitled 1M1: Hollywood Horns of the Golden Years which recounts the history of the Los Angeles film studios told through the eyes of the legendary horn players of the golden era. In addition, he translated and published a book for musicians called In Tune: Exercises to Improve a Musician’s Performance and Quality of Life. Dylan is known for making French horn music videos as seen on his YouTube Channel and specializes in giving masterclasses on a variety of topics ranging from physics and anatomy to motivation and mental health.
As an alumnus of the University of Southern California, he studied with Vincent DeRosa, James Thatcher, and Richard Todd. Dylan currently teaches horn at California State University, Northridge. When not performing, Dylan, a “foodie”, enjoys cooking, playing ice hockey and soccer, golfing, and hanging out with his wife and fellow hornist Annie Bosler.
Dylan is a Conn/Selmer Artist and owns several vintage Conn 8Ds and currently plays on a C-series that his friend and fellow instrument junky Noah Gladstone helped him find. He also developed a signature mouthpiece line with the help of Brett Kendall at Bob Reeves Brass.
Dylan Skye Hart Links
Podcast Credits
- “Haydn Symphony #31 “Horn Signal““, “Hornpipe” Water Music by Handel and “Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral” from Wagner’s Lohengrin
- Audio Engineer – Preston Shepard
- Cover Art – Meg Ryia
- Podcast Hosts – John Snell and Preston Shepard
Attending Towson University in Maryland, Vinnie Ciesielski majored in music performance on trumpet, which he has played professionally for over 50 years.
Well known in the performance and recording community, Mr. Ciesielski’s resume includes work on over 6000 recording sessions, 50 Grammy-nominated and 25 Grammy-winning recordings and dozens of Stellar and Dove awards. Vinnie has also been the horn arranger on multiple Grammy, Dove and Stellar nominated and winning recordings.
Simon Sweeney is a professional trumpet player and educator based in Sydney. He holds a Bachelors and a Masters degree from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. He is a studio musician and has been prolific in the live music scene since 1993. As a member of the Jazz Faculty at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music since 2010 he has taught many of the young players currently working in the Sydney scene.
Alan Kaplan has long been one of the busiest studio and freelance trombonists around. Growing up in Los Angeles he began playing at the age of eight. He tried to prepare for a “real” job, majoring in engineering at LA Valley College, but by the age of nineteen he was on the road with Buddy Rich. He was the youngest trombonist ever to play lead with that band. The next few years found him playing with big band legends such as Harry James, Louis Bellson, Don Ellis, and Lionel Hampton.In the ensuing years, Kaplan’s studio career took off. His recording credits vary vastly from Marvin Gaye to Johnny Mathis to Madonna to Placido Domingo to Sarah Vaughan to Oingo Boingo to Whitney Houston to the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Phil Collins, Pharell Williams, Celine Dion, Josh Groban, Michael Buble, Paul McCartney, Harry Styles, Bob Dylan, Bryan Adams, Nirvana, Neil Young, Harry Connick, Lady Gaga, and countless more.
Throughout his career, Alan has performed and recorded with Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Harry Connick, Boz Scaggs, Cheap Trick, Tony Bennett, Tower of Power, Josh Groban, Michael Jackson, Celine Dionne, Madonna, The Who, Elton John, Spinal Tap, and many, many more.
Bob‘s training included four great teachers, Don Kimble, Jeff Reynolds, Robert Simmergren and Roy Main; they have made all the difference! His professional career began at the age of twenty with the Disneyland Band where he stayed three years. It was a de facto apprenticeship, working day in and day out with 15 experienced professional musicians. Thereafter he stayed busy performing hither and yon in the greater Los Angeles area, including 30 years with Pacific Symphony, 24 years as a founding member of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, 22 seasons with Opera Pacific, 12 years in the Composers Brass Quintet, and of course, a decade or so in Hoyt Bohannon’s garage on Tuesday nights.
Gary Grant has been one of the top call studio trumpet players in Los Angeles for over 40 years. After playing lead trumpet in the University of North Texas One O’Clock Lab Band, Gary began touring with Woody Herman as his lead trumpet and can be heard on the popular “Light My Fire” album.
