About Us

Richard Seraphinoff

A native of Detroit, Michigan, Richard Seraphinoff holds degrees in horn performance from Wayne State University and Indiana University. Among his horn teachers are Lowell Greer, Philip Farkas, Meir Rimon, Francis Orval, Michael Hatfield, Myron Bloom and Eugene Wade. In September of 1986 he was appointed to the faculty of the Indiana University School of Music, where he teaches modern valve horn, natural horn, a doctoral course in brass literature, and chamber music.

Mr. Seraphinoff was the winner of the 1984 Erwin Bodky Early Music Competition and the 1981 Heldenleben Horn Competition. As a modern horn player he has performed with the Detroit Symphony and Toledo Symphony Orchestras and the Michigan Opera Theater. As a Natural Hornist he has performed with virtually every Baroque and Classical orchestra in the U.S., including the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, the Grande Bande, Concert Royal, and Mozartean Players of New York, the Boston Handel and Haydn Society, Bosto nEarly Music Festival Orchestra, the Portland Baroque Orchestra of Oregon, Lyra Baroque Orchestra,  The City Musick and Basically Bach of Chicago, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra of San Francisco, Opera Lafayette of Washington DC, and the Atlanta baroque orchestra, and many others. He has appeared as soloist at the Aston Magna Festival, with the Vancouver CBC Orchestra, Bloomington Early Music Festival Orchestra, Indiananapolis Baroque orchestra, and with La Stagione and Ensemble Metamorphosis in Germany. He has given lectures and Master Classes and appeared as guest recitalist at both Early Music and modern brass workshops in the United States and Europe, has written articles for the Historic Brass Society Journal, the Horn Call, and several other journals, and has appeared on numerous recordings. His new book, "Guide to the Solo Horn Repertoire" with co-author Linda Dempf, is available from Indiana University Press.

Mr. Seraphinoff is also a well-known maker of historical reproductions of Baroque and Classical Natural Horns. With trumpet makers Robert Barclay and Michael Muenkwitz he has developed a week-long course in historical brass instrument making that has been offered in the US and Europe 17 times since 1994. Since 1993 he has given summer workshops in Natural Horn history and performance at Indiana University, which are attended by horn players from around the world. The textbook for this workshop "Making a Natural Trumpet" by Robert Barclay, Michael Muenkwitz, and Richard Seraphinoff was published by Loose Cannon Press in 2014.

Celeste-Holler Seraphinoff

Celeste earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from the Indiana University School of Music studying horn, viola and early music performance and MBA coursework through the IU School of Business. She was an associate instructor under Thomas Binkley, founder of the IU Early Music Institute. She has performed on baroque and classical horn with numerous period instrument orchestras across the country as both an ensemble player and soloist. Ms. Holler-Seraphinoff has also been an active freelance musician on the modern horn and has performed with ensembles in Bloomington and the surrounding area, and also with the Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra in Indianapolis. Celeste served as corporate controller of the Monroe County YMCA for 13 years and as director of financial aid and external business affairs at the IU Jacobs School of Music 2000-2008.

Celeste does finishing and detail work on the instruments, assists with restorations, and takes care of accounting and the business end of the horn workshop.