Born in Bartlesville, with a father who worked for Phillips 66, Michelle Perry’s story begins like many other Bartlesville alumni. But unlike many alumni, the skills she developed in Bartlesville have carried her on a global adventure beyond her wildest imagination.
Perry’s love of music began at a young age. Her father sang in both a local and the church choir (and still does). Her mother played the piano. Perry started piano lessons when she was four and was introduced to the horn in 6th grade at Madison Middle School by Bartlesville Band Directors Jeff Lawless and Mary Ann French. She progressed quickly and when Mr. Walter Pitts moved to Bartlesville to take up a position as an additional Bartlesville Band Director alongside Jeff Lawless, he saw something in Perry. He took her under his wing – giving her private lessons after school, introducing her to recordings of some of the greatest orchestras, horn soloists, and brass groups in the world, including the brass quintet, Empire Brass. Both Pitts and Lawless encouraged her to listen to world-class musicians and hear them play in person.
She can recall the first time she heard a professional horn player. She was 16 when, at the recommendation of her band director, she and her dad went to see the Tulsa Philharmonic play. She went backstage and met Hermann Baumann, the top horn soloist in the world at the time.
This encouragement from her Bartlesville band directors opened her eyes to possibilities beyond Bartlesville. She began to dream of one day playing in the Chicago Symphony. But little did she know that the world had much more in store for her.
Perry graduated from Bartlesville High School in 1993. She studied at Oklahoma University for a year, then transferred to Arizona State, for its strong music program. Upon completing her studies there, she obtained a coveted Fulbright Scholarship to play the horn in Oslo, Norway.
Living in Norway, traveling around Europe, and studying under one of the most famous female horn teachers in the world, Frøydis Ree Wekre, gave her a different way of looking at life, art, culture, and music. As she began to play with various orchestras, perform in solo recitals, and play in festivals, her international reputation grew.
A highlight during her career was being invited to audition for the internationally acclaimed Empire Brass Quintet – an opportunity of a lifetime. After an intense, four-hour rehearsal, the group was incredibly impressed with her ability to sight read and keep up with them.
When they asked her how she did it, she just smiled, but never divulged that she had actually been listening to Empire Brass recordings for 10 years after being first introduced to their many recordings by Bartlesville band director, Walter Pitts. She was invited to join their group (as the first and ultimately only female ever in the group), which served as a further catalyst for her career.
She toured the world with the Empire Brass Quintet for six years, touring through Asia, Europe, Australia, Scandinavia, North America, and South America as their horn soloist. When they were not on tour, she would reside in Boston and often played with the Boston Symphony and the Boston Pops. As her international reputation grew, she played in countless concert halls with some of the best musicians in the world – from being the principal horn in the opera orchestra in the renowned Sydney Opera House, to being a guest musician for orchestras and chamber groups across the world, including all over Europe, Japan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South East Asia and Malaysia, Venezuela, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Norway, Macedonia, republic of Georgia, Malta (a picturesque island in the Mediterranean), and even in the Forbidden City in Beijing.
Almost more impressive than Perry’s resume is her perspective on life and advice for young musicians. She appreciates the journey she is on; and the idea that as someone from a small, conservative town, she has been able to experience so much culture and diversity. She loves what she does and the perspective it has given her. She said “[i]f just one person is moved by something she does (plays? Listening to her?) as part of her orchestra experience, then that’s a gift to her.” She simply wants her music to inspire or evoke something exciting in another person.
Her advice to students is to: “find your passion and pursue it. That’s the way to find what you’re meant to do in life.” She recognizes that she was fortunate to find her passion at 15, and acknowledges that it can be a challenge; but she encourages people to stop separating out what they want to do for work and what they enjoy as a hobby – “what you’re passionate about – that’s what you should do for work.”
Perry firmly believes that everyone has a path to bring their gift to the world. Reflecting back on her initial dream of one day playing in the Chicago Symphony, she says “[d]on’t limit yourself by what you think you have to do or even what you think you want to do…find what makes you happy and pursue it.” Perry focused on one goal but when she outgrew it, she let it go and left herself open to opportunities she had not even thought of. She explains that that is how you get the life you’d never expect…the life that’s bigger than any dream you could imagine.
Perry spent most of the pandemic (while most concert halls were closed) at her property in Aruba, although she and her husband currently call Berlin home.
What’s next for Perry: She would love to collaborate with someone on a project to show the public what the horn can really do. She wants to connect with audiences beyond those individuals that attend symphonies and visit concert halls. She has no idea what that will look or sound like, but that’s what excites her and that mindset has worked well for her so far.
To learn more about Michelle Perry (BHS, ‘93) or listen to some of her music, check out her website: http://www.michelleperryhorn.com/biography.html