Born in Toronto, Canadian native Janet Horvath joined the Minnesota Orchestra in 1980 as associate principal cello. Her recent solo engagements with the Orchestra include Stephen Paulus’ Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra and Bruch’s Kol Nidre, the latter of which she reprised in February 2008 as well as numerous chamber music appearances.Horvath made her international recital debut in London’s Wigmore Hall in 1986; she has subsequently performed in recitals throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. In addition to her frequent solo performances with the Minnesota Orchestra, she has appeared with the Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Fargo-Moorhead Symphonies and the Twin Cities' Metropolitan Symphony.
An active chamber musician, Horvath has performed at the Mainly Mozart Festival and has appeared at the Marlboro and Blossom festivals. In the Twin Cities, she plays in a trio with Minnesota Orchestra Principal Harp Kathy Kienzle and Julia Bogorad, principal flute of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Additional chamber performances have included appearances with pianist André Watts, William Preucil, concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra, and with Minnesota Orchestra Music Director Osmo Vänskä and Minnesota Orchestra Sommerfest Artistic Director Andrew Litton, on clarinet and piano respectively, in Brahms clarinet trio. At Sommerfest 2007 she performed Elgar’s Piano Quintet as well as Astor Piazzola’s Grand Tango for Cello and Piano for which she commissioned Tango dancers.
Horvath is a recognized authority and pioneer in the area of medical problems of performing artists. A recipient of the Richard J. Lederman Lecture Award presented by the Performing Arts Medicine Association, she founded the “Playing (less) Hurt” conference series. She has published numerous articles in professional journals on the subject. Her 2002 book, Playing (less) Hurt—an Injury Prevention Guide for Musicians, garners critical acclaim and to date has sold more than 7,000 copies. The newly revised 2009 edition has just been released and is available at www.playinglesshurt.com
Horvath’s noted seminars, have been presented for orchestras including the Minnesota Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony and Boston Symphony Orchestra, and for youth orchestras, at conservatories, conferences and workshops from coast to coast. During the 2007-08 season she presents seminars at the Minnesota Music Educators Association Midwinter In-service Clinic, Bennington (Vermont) Chamber Music Conference and Composers’ Forum of the East and the League of American Orchestras National Conference in Denver CO. in June, as well as the Performing Arts Medical Associations’ Annual Symposium in Aspen CO.
Horvath received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto and a master’s degree from Indiana University. Her teachers have included George Horvath (her father) who was a member of the Toronto Symphony for 38 years, Vladimir Orloff and Janos Starker.
Heather MacLaughlin is one of the Twin Cities’ leading chamber music pianists, appearing regularly with members of both the Minnesota Orchestra and The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. She has collaborated with, among others, Pinchas Zukerman, Cynthia Phelps (principal violist for the New York Philharmonic), and baritone David Malis.MacLaughlin has been heard on both Minnesota and National Public Radio as soloist and chamber musician. In 1998, MacLaughlin and her husband, classical guitarist Alan Johnston, represented Minnesota on the Millennium concert series at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
As a member of the Shank-MacLaughlin Duo with violinist Leslie Shank, MacLaughlin was the recipient of a 1996 grant from the General Mills, Dayton Hudson and Jerome Foundations for travel to Hungary to study and perform the Bartók Sonatas for violin and piano. In 1997, the Shank-MacLaughlin Duo was a winner of the McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians. Their CD of the Bartók sonatas for violin and piano was released in 1999 on the Centaur label.
MacLaughlin completed a doctor of musical arts degree at the University of Minnesota in piano accompanying/coaching, as a student of Margo Garrett. She received bachelor and master of music degrees from Indiana University, where she studied with Enrica Cavallo-Gulli. A Suzuki piano instructor since 1985, MacLaughlin has taught at Suzuki institutes and workshops in Wisconsin, Michigan, Colorado, Minnesota, and Lima, Peru. A former faculty member at the MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis, she is currently teaching at North Hennepin Community College in Brooklyn Park, MN.