Orlando R. Pandolfi has been an active performer in both Classical and Jazz idioms since high school. His early studies, influenced primarily by his father and two uncles, all professional musicians, included piano and trumpet lessons, but as a teenager his interest shifted from piano to jazz vibraphone, and later, from trumpet to French horn.
After majoring in jazz studies at Berklee School of Music, and attending classes at The New England Conservatory in 20th Century Music and Conducting, he moved to New York City to study vibraphone with renowned jazz mallet artists David Samuels and David Friedman while finishing his Bachelors and a Masters Degrees in horn performance at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Ranier C. DeIntinis and Myron Bloom.
At Juilliard, he was a recipient of the E. and W. Naumberg Scholarship for Orchestral Instruments and twice winner of the Jerome Greene Fellowship in Music. He was also awarded teaching fellowships in both the Ear Training and Theory Departments, working under legendary master teacher, Mary Anthony Cox. He has been a guest instructor of horn at the University of Massachusetts, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and Amherst College.
Mr. Pandolfi has performed and recorded throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. In 1989, he served as principal horn in the Nova Filarmonia Portuguesa in Lisbon, and in 1991-92, moved to Rome, Italy as guest instructor of horn at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and adjunct horn in the Orchestra Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the premier orchestra of that city.
He has performed over 350 concerts in Europe and has participated in numerous recordings. In addition, he has performed with the Gotham City Wind Quintet, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra Winds, the Oregon Symphony, Indiana University Summer Festival Orchestra, Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra, Astoria (Oregon) Opera Festival, Opera Saratoga, Alabama Symphony, Springfield Symphony, New Haven Symphony, Symphony New Hampshire, Berkshire Symphony, Albany Symphony, The Boston Festival Orchestra, Longwood Symphony, Collegium Westchester (NY), Mohawk Trail Concert Series, and of course, with the Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra.
He has been a guest artist at the Killington Music Festival and the Tampa / St. Pete Chamber Music Festival. He served as the horn instructor at Williams College from 2003 until 2011 and is currently Director of Music at St. Paul’s School in Concord, NH where he lives with his wife, Penny. They have four sons, Logan, Beau, Anthony, and Leo.
