Mary Beth Orr
About Mary Beth
As an artist for Great Lakes Performing Artists Associates, and a PARMA/Navona recording artist, Mary Beth Orr is a passionate classical hornist and folk vocalist intent on bringing connection through music, most recently a finalist for The American Prize in instrumental performance 2023. She has performed with Detroit Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Detroit Opera, Pro Musica, and currently tenured 3rd Horn of Grand Rapids Symphony, as well as Professor of Horn at Hope College. She is a multi international prize winning soloist that released her debut crossover fusion album, The Singing Horn, in March 2025 which was awarded a Silver Prize for Outstanding Folk Album by the Global Music Awards.
Orr is an active member of the IHS, Recording Academy, IWBC, and a licensed arranger and composer with ASCAP. As featured performer for Vox Novus' Fifteen Minutes of Fame Project, she traveled to New York City to perform and record fifteen one minute works commissioned specifically for her for this project, showcasing and fostering support for new music. A new call is currently out for a project set to premier in 2026.
I believe every student needs an individualized approach specific to their needs, goals, and learning style. To teach is to serve and it is a sacred process, therefore my students are never a reflection of me and my teaching but of THEIR work and determination. I'm just happy to be a guide on that journey.
She made her premier at the Spoleto Music Festival as a featured recital soloist with her mixed ensemble Femme Forte in 2017. After winning 2nd prize in the professional division at the International Horn Competition of America in 2013, she started exploring artistic opportunities as a soloist, placing 2nd in the Horn Division of the 2014 International Women’s Brass Conference Solo Competition. Upon returning to the IWBC in 2019 she was awarded 1st prize in the Professional Division for Horn. She premiered as guest soloist with the Grand Rapids Symphony on her own arrangement of "Stand up For Me" for voice, piano, horn, and string orchestra at the 2021 Frederik Meijer Gardens Summer Concert Series. Between 2020 and 2022, she was a multi prize winner of the Sound Espressivo International Music Competition, and 1st prize winner of the Golden Classical International Music Awards, American Protégé International Talent Competition, and the Charleston International Solo Competition 2021, where she was also voted most outstanding performance. As also a first prize winner of the Grand Prize Virtuoso Competition, she made her European premier at the Beethoven Haus in Bonn, Germany in August 2021. In May 2022 she premiered as a soloist at Carnegie Hall.
- B.M., Horn Performance - Shenandoah Conservatory
- M.M., Horn Performance - Michigan State University