If you’ve seen a Hollywood movie in the past 30 years, chances are excellent that you’ve heard the majestic horn playing of James Thatcher.
Los Angeles Time
As one of the industry’s busiest French horn musicians, Thatcher has done soundtrack work on thousands of titles. He performed solos on James Horner’s scores for “Titanic” and “Avatar,” helped to evoke the wintry landscapes in the animated hit “Frozen” and contributed to the big-band sound of this year’s lascivious bear comedy, “Ted 2.”
A NARAS (Grammy) Award winner, Thatcher began his career playing with the Utah Symphony, Phoenix Symphony and Los Angeles Philharmonic. As a soloist and collaborator, he has played with the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Cincinatti Symphony, Bolshoi Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Royal Danish Ballet, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Music Center Opera and Opera Pacifica, to name a few. Thatcher has also appeared as a soloist in thousands of films, recording music by: John Williams, James Horner, Jerry Goldsmith, James Newton Howard, Alan Silvestri, Danny Elfman, Hans Zimmer, Randy Newman and many others. His recordings can also be found on albums by Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra, Kenny Rogers, Dave Grusin, Harry Connick Jr. and Mel Torme. Thatcher currently travels the world teaching and playing festivals with artists from orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony. His solo album “Now Playing” was on the “Must have horn cd” list of the Amazon platform.
This year, he will release another album, which will include “Serenade” by Britten, Concerto No. 1 by R. Strauss and “Auf dem Strom” by Schubert. He will record in Vienna with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra.