Edward Deskur is a citizen of the USA, Poland and Switzerland and was born in 1959 in Johnson City, NY. He studied with Verne Reynolds at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY., Francis Orval in Liège, Belgium, and Erich Penzel in Cologne, Germany. At the age of 19 he became a founding member of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. After returning to the USA and finishing his bachelor's degree he was awarded the Eastman School of Music's "Performer's Certificate” as well as a Fulbright Scholarship for specialized studies in Belgium.
He is 2nd horn at the Zurich Opera since 1985. He performs and records regularly with Concentus Musicus Wien and Il Giardino Armonico. He has also performed and recorded with various period instrument ensembles such as Les Arts Florissants, Paris - La Scintilla, Zurich (founding member) - Akademie für Alte Musik (AKAMUS), Berlin, and Basel Kammerochester. As a natural horn soloist he has performed Mozart concertos with the Shanghai Philharmonic, Cappella Cracovienis in Cracow, Poland, and the Junge Kammerphilharmonie, Zurich.
Notable recordings on the baroque horn are, Bach's "Brandenburg Concerto No. 1" with Giovanni Antonini and Il Giardino Armonico, which was awarded the German Echo-Prize "Orchestra of the Year" 1998 and "The Vivaldi Album" with Cecilia Bartoli and Il Giardino Armonico, which won a Grammy in 2000. On natural horn: Haydn Symphonies No. 31 "Hornsignal" and No. 58 "Fire", with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Concentus Musicus and Il Casa del Diavolo, with Giovanni Antonini and Il Giardino Armonico. On the modern horn he recorded the Horn Concerto "Memory" by the Chinese composer Shi Yong Kang with the Shanghai Philharmonic. He has given masterclasses in Shanghai in Mandarin Chinese, Krakau in Polish and in Switzerland in German.
