Cameron
(Cameron Kopf)

Bio:
I've been meaning to update my bio for a few years now -- much has changed!

At the beginning of 2013, I decided to start drawing my Musicians Union pension. I no longer play union professional orchestra/show gigs (French horn). It is a great relief not to have to travel long distances to barely do better than break even on professional gigs. It's great to be able to stay close to home!

I can now concentrate my creative energies right here in The Woods, in the upper foothills of the Sierra Nevadas, 80 miles northeast of Sacramento.

I play horn in a local woodwind quintet and in the Nevada County Concert Band:

http://nccb.org

I had played trumpet in the band last year, but the horn section really needs my help, at least through the Spring concert in early May. Then I will probably switch to marimba -- something I've always wanted to play!

I continue to play the trumpet in my local brass quintet, Sierra Brass.

And I am still playing the harp, piano and recorder family for fun.

Over the past few years, I have been composing a LOT of music for various chamber ensembles. Hopefully I will share some of it here on Macjams.

My most recent projects have been photographing and videoing my partner James' latest art projects: Ice Mandalas. They can be created only when the weather stays below freezing for several days in a row, so we are done until next Winter! It involves putting various objects into the bottom of washtubs and covered with a few inches of water and let freeze. The discs are then removed from the tub and hung in a tree.

You can see my Mandala videos, among others, on my YouTube page:

https://www.youtube.com/user/cameron5105

I composed original music for these videos, using iMovie 6 and Garageband (4? I think...an older version that works on my antiquated Leopard OS Macbook).

I recently collaborated with my dear friend Francesca in our band called "Tootenpluck". Francesca is also a member of Macjams:

http://www.macjams.com/artist/francescasongspirit

We recently released a short album entitled "Under a Cedar" on the Bandcamp.com site:

http://tootenpluck.bandcamp.com/album/under-a-cedar

I play the Ravenna 26-string harp while Francesca plays a number of Native American flutes. The music is a blending of meditative/improvisation and Native American influences.

Please check out our tracks, and make a donation (of any size) if you can. Technically you can download the tracks for free, but it would be greatly appreciated if you could contribute even a few dollars to our cause, so that we can bring you more music!

PREVIOUS BIO from 2007:
After ten years on the road playing horn with the national (USA) touring company of "The Phantom of the Opera", I have recently retired from that organization and moved from Bisbee, Arizona to the Woods of Northern California.

In this peaceful, secluded piece of heaven, I am following my dreams of composing and recording my own music, as well as further developing my skills on all the instruments I play: horn, harp, piano and the recorder family.

I became a professional horn player immediately upon my graduation from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati in 1976, when I won my first orchestral position with the Nashville Symphony. It was a very stimulating environment, playing recordings, TV shows and small ensembles in addition to my regular orchestra duties.

After three years, I went down to Mexico to play with La Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado de México. This was an excellent orchestra with musicians from all over Latin America, Europe, Russia and the United States. We did many recordings, and tours throughout Mexico and the States.

After two devaluations of the peso in 1982 (four years later) I left the orchestra and moved back to the States without a job; I lived with my parents in my childhood home in Sacramento and worked in a pizza parlor. I subbed with the Sacramento Symphony, then ended up winning a national audition and remained there for nearly fifteen years, until the orchestra's unfortunate demise in 1996.

I jumped at the chance to join the Phantom touring company in 1997. The experience of playing the same music over and over again (over 3,000 shows!) presented different challenges than anything I had ever done musically before.

It was a great ten years but it's time to move on to the next phase.

So now I return to Northern California once again. Along with my many musical projects with horn, harp, piano and recorders, I will freelance on horn in various area orchestras, including the new "incarnation" in Sacramento, now called the Sacramento Philharmonic. It will be nice to play there on a part-time basis.

In my new life, I look forward to having more time to create music and share it with you all here!