Headshot of Richard “Gus” Sebring

Richard "Gus" Sebring

Professor
Affiliated Departments
Brass
Faculty Bio E-Mail
rsebring@berklee.edu
Telephone
617-747-6252

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Now in his 41st season with the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) and Boston Pops, Richard "Gus" Sebring enjoys a wide-ranging career. In addition to his BSO duties, he is an Emmy-nominated arranger, and a composer, photographer, and video producer. Competent in Logic Pro and Ableton, he encourages students to incorporate the horn into their productions.

Career Highlights
  • Associate principal horn for the Boston Symphony Orchestra
  • Principal horn and arranger for the Boston Pops
  • Faculty, New England Conservatory and Tanglewood Music Center
  • Founder of Musketaquid Music
  • Solo horn on John Williams's film score for Saving Private Ryan, horn on James Taylor's October Road album, and BSO
  • Regular session hornist for Mason Daring, Sheldon Mirowitz, and John Kusiak
  • Recorded horn samples for both Kurzweil and Yamaha libraries
  • Regular studio work around New England
  • Arranged the version of the Star Spangled Banner that's played by the Boston Pops in every major sports venue in Boston
  • Studies at Indiana University and New England Conservatory
Awards
  • Emmy-nominated composer and arranger
  • Winner of multiple Grammy Awards as a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra
Education
  • B.M., University of Washington
In Their Own Words

"Berklee students are a special breed, bringing a passion to their respective fields of musical endeavor. While helping students to play as well as possible, I strive to illuminate ways in which the horn will connect with their chosen path and to connect them with the many people in the professional world that I’ve come in contact with."

"To sit onstage in Symphony Hall among the most refined orchestral musicians in the world is an incredible experience. Players at the highest level demonstrate a complete mastery of instrumental technique, an amazing degree of finesse, consistency of intonation and rhythm, and a lyric, deeply emotive radiance."

"The goal in my teaching is to maximize the development of Berklee's brass players, cultivating fine technique and musicianship, enabling them to discover their full potential while enhancing the quality of Berklee's fine ensembles. In addition to studio lessons, Berklee horn students perform for their peers and play as a section in a workshop environment several times each semester, where we all critique each other and share information in order to help each performer play as well as possible."

"My own varied musical path has led from a progressive, original rock band in the '70s to playing in the BSO since 1981 under such luminaries as Leonard Bernstein, Simon Rattle, Seiji Ozawa, John Williams, and James Levine. In the Boston Pops, we frequently collaborate with such diverse artists as Sting, Wynton Marsalis, Ben Folds, James Taylor, Ozomatli, Bono, Amanda Palmer, Steven Tyler, Tom Morello, Chick Corea, Yo-Yo Ma, and many more. I've also arranged and performed charts featuring the mellophonium and horn for the Boston Pops with Keith Lockhart."

"Being versatile and tech savvy is essential these days, and I encourage students to develop their recording and producing skills. Those skills have enabled me to share my own horn work worldwide via the internet, directly from my home studio. A lifetime passion for the recording arts has also led to commercial work including many studio sessions with film composers, some involving improvisation over previously laid-down tracks."

"The debt I owe to my wonderful teachers and colleagues is repaid to my Berklee students. Developing their talents and encouraging them to find and follow their own passion is one of the greatest joys of my life."