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Olivier Blakney

Part-Time Assistant Professor — Brass
Office
MC 004

Biography

Born in Switzerland but raised in California, Olivier Blakney values versatility, both a performer and pedagogue. With the Volante Winds Quintet he has performed at the Mineral Point Chamber Music Festival in Wisconsin, the Juneau Jazz and Classics Festival, the Jeju International Wind Ensemble Festival in Jeju South Korea, the American Music Festival in Morehead City North Carolina, and Chamber Music WilmingtonVolante Winds were also named as semifinalists in the 2018 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, and a semifinalist in the 2017 Plowman Chamber Music Competition.

As a recording artist, Olivier has participated in a wide range of projects from Mahler symphonies to a CD of rock music for orchestra, which has generated over 1,000,000 views on YouTube and reviews in The A.V. ClubNerdist and New York Daily News. Olivier has also performed with the Owensboro Symphony Orchestra, Dubuque Symphony Orchestra, American Youth Symphony, Santa Monica Symphony, Columbus Philharmonic and Redlands Symphony Orchestra.

As a proud member of Indiana University’s Nairobi based Tunaweza Kimuziki project Olivier has worked to increase the quality of music education in Kenya. Olivier embraces the use of technology in teaching, with an online based private studio which includes students located around the world. His students have been accepted to prestigious programs such as the Frost School of Music in Miami, FL, Boston University Tanglewood Institute Horn Camp and Young Artist Program as well as all-state ensembles in California, Virginia, and Alabama and membership in the Chicago and Sacramento Youth Symphonies among other achievements. Olivier integrates music history and theory into his pedagogical techniques and has had multiple articles published in The Horn Call on how music theory can be used to enhance musical interpretations and performances.

Publications

Articles:

Huebscher, Olivier. “Beethoven’s Horn Sonata, First Movement: An Analysis”, The Horn Call, Volume XLII, No 3 (February 2015): 39-40.

Huebscher, Olivier. “Quonium from Bach's b minor Mass”, The Horn Call, Volume XLV, No 2 (May 2012): 27-29.

Dissertation:

(2019) Huebscher, Olivier. “Horn Pedagogy Evolution: How Orchestral Excerpts Ascended into Prominence.” Dissertation, Indiana University Bloomington.

Education

  • Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Bloomington, 2019
    • Doctor of Music, Horn Performance 
  • Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Bloomington, 2013
    • Master of Music, Horn Performance
  • University of Redlands, Redlands CA, 2011
    • Bachelor of Music, Horn Performance

Recordings

Symphony No. 7 by Henry Cowell for Naxos Label

Recordings for nationally televised commercials for Indiana University

 with Kammermahler

 with Metamorphestra