Horn Institute

Michael Thornton enjoys a distinguished and varied career as a pedagogue, orchestral performer, chamber musician, and soloist. Appointed Professor of Horn at the University of Michigan in 2026, he has performed on six continents with acclaimed ensembles and has presented master classes at the world’s most prestigious musical institutions.

Michael Thornton serves as a horn faculty artist member for the Colorado College Music Festival and as the Director of the Horn Workshop at Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI). Mr. Thornton holds certification in Mental Toughness Training from the Human Performance Institute in Orlando, Florida, and implements this training in his teaching. His students hold positions in more than fifty orchestras and military bands throughout the United States and abroad, hold teaching appointments at colleges and universities, and have won numerous awards and competitions. During his tenure at the University of Colorado Boulder, Professor Thornton was a two-time recipient of the Marinus Smith Award, which is bestowed upon teachers who have made significant contributions to their students’ development.

Mr. Thornton served as Principal Horn of the Colorado Symphony for over thirty years. In this capacity he worked with classical and popular artists from Yo Yo Ma, Itzak Perlman, Mitsuko Uchida, and Renee Fleming to John Williams, Jack Black, Gregory Alan Isakov, and the Wu Tang Clan. He has also performed, recorded, and toured with renowned ensembles including The Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, KBS Symphony (South Korea), Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Grant Park Music Festival, and others.

An avid chamber musician and a recognized soloist internationally, Michael Thornton has been a featured performer at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival (NM), Mainly Mozart (CA), Spoleto (SC), Moab Music Festival (UT), Campos do Jordao International Winter Festival (Brazil), Medellin Festicamara (Colombia), among many others. He performs annually as the horn artist faculty for the Colorado College Summer Music Festival. As a soloist, in addition to his regular appearances with the Colorado Symphony, Mr. Thornton has been featured with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, National Arts Center Orchestra (Canada), Melbourne Musician’s Chamber Orchestra (Australia), the New Symphony Orchestra (Bulgaria), the Cape Town Philharmonic (South Africa), and orchestras throughout the US. He appears regularly as a master clinician and performer at conferences and horn symposia worldwide.

Michael Thornton began his professional career when he left his studies at The Juilliard School to become the Principal Horn of the Honolulu Symphony. A native of Long Island, NY, Mr. Thornton’s primary teaching influences include Randy Gardner, Jerome Ashby, and Julie Landsman.