Colin Bianchi

Horn

Colin Bianchi is a French horn player with an active career as both a performer and educator. He is the Principal Horn of Detroit Opera, third horn in The Toledo Symphony Orchestra, and teaches horn at Aquinas College.

A native of Detroit, Michigan, Colin began studying the horn at age fifteen with Denise Tryon. He completed his studies at the University of Michigan and Northwestern University, working with Adam Unsworth, Gail Williams, Jon Boen, and Bryan Kennedy, and spending additional time learning from Karl Pituch. After his formal education, he traveled to Norway to study with renowned hornist Froydis Ree Wekre at the Norwegian Academy of Music.

He has performed with ensembles including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Nashville Symphony Orchestra, Columbus Symphony Orchestra, Grand Rapids Symphony, San Antonio Symphony Orchestra, and West Virginia Symphony Orchestra. A dedicated chamber musician, he has appeared with a wide range of ensembles, highlighted by a guest artist recital with acclaimed soprano Kristine Goerke. As a soloist, he has performed Strauss’s Horn Concerto No. 1 with the International Symphony Orchestra.

Colin lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, though has spent the last four summers as third horn of the Britt Festival Orchestra in Jacksonville Oregon. He performs on a Karl Hill triple horn with a Laskey 85F mouthpiece. Away from the horn Colin enjoys cooking, fishing, and playing pickleball with his wife, Jinn Shin, who herself is a cellist in the Grand Rapids Symphony.