From a pig farm in western Canada to the bright lights of Broadway, Jeff Nelsen's French horn talent has taken him all over the world. \nNow the internationally known horn virtuoso has taken a position as an associate professor of music at IU's Jacobs School of Music. Nelsen is currently a visiting associate professor in the school, and he said spending time in this role made the decision to take the faculty position easy. \n"I love the teaching. I love the town. I love the faculty. I love the students," Nelsen said. "I fell in love with everything." \nRaised on a pig farm near Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Nelsen grew up in a musical family. His parents were opera singers and his two sisters are professional flute and bassoon performers.\nNelsen said he owes his success to the combination of classical music played in the house and the work ethic he developed on the family's pig farm. \nAlthough he is best known for his four-year tenure with the Canadian Brass, Nelsen has also performed in numerous symphony orchestras, toured with entertainers such as Michael Bolton and Barry Manilow and has performed and been a mentor at the Ravinia and Tanglewood music festivals. He credits his accomplished professional career as an influence on the ways he helps students learn.\n"It's created my style of teaching," he said. "The audience knows everything. I can clean up my thinking and make it 100 percent positive."\nRachel Ward, a senior majoring in horn performance and a student of Nelsen's, said she was excited when she heard he was going to be a permanent member of the IU faculty.\n"He always makes you laugh, and he is always there for his students," she said. "It's just amazing." \nBy starting a daily warm-up class for horn students, Nelsen has already made his mark on the department. The class allows all the horn players to meet, and Nelsen often performs magic tricks for the students. Ward attributes the creation of the class to Nelsen's belief in uniting horn players as a family.\n"It really brings everyone together," she said. "It's a great feeling in such a huge school."\nWard also said Nelsen is the "perfect addition" to IU's two other horn professors, Myron Bloom and Richard Seraphinoff. Seraphinoff, associate professor of horn, spoke about working with Nelsen to restructure classes in the horn department.\n"I've never worked together so closely with a faculty member with these things before," Seraphinoff said. "We just really clicked."\nHe said that Nelsen's presence has added a "new sense of excitement in the department."\n"As such a dynamic performer, it will really be a great thing for recruiting students to the horn department," Seraphinoff said.
Nelsen is the latest addition in a recent influx of high-profile musicians joining the school of music faculty. Other hires in the past year include five-time Grammy award-winning conductor Leonard Slatkin and two-time Grammy winning soprano Sylvia McNair. \nAlthough he will be teaching at IU, Nelsen plans to continue his professional horn career. He will be performing on Broadway in the musical "The Pirate Queen" this summer and is finishing his book, "Fearless Auditioning," set to be released early next year.
