Biography
Amy Sanchez is a freelance horn player and teacher in Long Beach, California. In the Los Angeles area, she has performed with the Pasadena, New West, Santa Barbara, and Riverside Symphonies, the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, and many other pick-up groups and mixed chamber ensembles. She is also a studio musician, recording for motion pictures and television. You can hear Amy on such diverse films as the Fox animated movie, "Robots", the Bollywood epic blockbuster, "Jodhaa Akbar" and Rob Zombie's "The Devil's Rejects", as well as others.
In the summer of 2008, Amy taught at the world-renowned Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan. She taught Middle and High School horn students, coached chamber ensembles and led sectionals. She also performed with the Interlochen Faculty Brass Ensemble and was honored to be affiliated with horn colleagues Janine Gaboury, Bruce Henniss, Kelly Drifmeyer, Ellen Campbell, Lisa Bontrager, and Alex Shuhan.
In 2007, Amy had the opportunity to serve as Horn Professor at Ithaca College in NY, during regular Professor Alex Shuhan's sabbatical leave. She taught 19 horn majors, gave weekly Master Classes, held morning warm-up/fundamental sessions twice daily, and performed with the Faculty Brass and Woodwind Quintets. In addition, Amy gave a Trio Recital with violinist Byron Wallis (Paris freelance musician) and pianist Karl Lutchmayer (London Professor at the Trinity College of Music and guest lecturer at Juilliard), performing the Trios of Brahms and Ligeti. They even gave a surprisingly well-received, impromptu performance of the Ligeti Trio at a an open-mic night at the ABC Cafe, a local bar and vegan cafe in Ithaca. The slightly out-of-tune upright piano lent itself well to Ligeti, creating quite an ambiance in light of the usual poetry readings and acoustic guitar. In more "proper" venues, Amy performed with the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra and the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic.
Previously, Amy spent two years as the horn soloist for the International Tour of the Broadway production, "Blast", performing and giving clinics throughout the United States, Canada, and Japan. The show's immense popularity in Japan has brought her back for subsequent summer tours as well. Amy has also performed in England, Ireland, India and Israel, and looks forward to future travels, focusing first on all other countries starting with the letter "I".
Amy is originally from the small village of Black River in Northern New York- and yes, it snows a lot there! She received her Bachelors Degree in Horn Performance and Music Education from Ithaca College where she studied with Alex Shuhan (founding member of Dallas Brass and founding/current member of Rhythm and Brass) and Bill Bernatis (currently UNLV). After traveling and performing for some time, Amy received her Masters in Horn Performance from the University of Southern California, studying with Richard Todd, elite studio musician and Principal Horn of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. She also spent several years studying privately with James Thatcher, one of LA's premiere studio horn players and now Horn Professor at USC.
