Often referred to as the ‘soul of the orchestra,’ the horn’s beautiful sound is what drew Paolo Rosselli to the instrument. Currently, Paolo is an active freelance horn player in the Greater Toronto Area and has just returned from the prestigious Aspen Music Festival and School 2023 Program. Recently, Paolo is has achieved a Master of Music degree in Horn Performance at New England Conservatory of Music (NEC), where he was fortunate enough to be involved in a music community rich with esteemed faculty and students. In Boston, Paolo had the incredible opportunity to study privately with Michael Winter, who is the 3rd Hornist in the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO). Additionally, at NEC, Paolo had the wonderful opportunity to play in various orchestra, wind and chamber ensembles - such as the NEC Philharmonia, NEC Chamber Orchestra and Wind Ensemble – which are conducted by world-renowned music directors, namely Hugh Wolff and David Loebel. Paolo also played in a brass quintet composed of other graduate students where they play concerts in and outside of New England Conservatory. Coached by James Markey (Bass Trombone, BSO) and Mike Dobrinski (Trumpet, Rhode Island Philharmonic), Paolo’s brass quintet performed both standard and new works and recently premiered a piece by student composer Andrew Shield. A recipient of the Dean’s Scholarship, Alberta Arts Council Grant, Winspear Fund Scholarship and Anne Burrows Music Foundation Award, Paolo is using the generous support from these resources to hone his musical craft at this conservatory to propel him into a career in brass performance. Currently, Paolo is playing 4th Horn with the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra after winning the audition last fall 2022.

Prior to his time at New England Conservatory, Paolo attended the University of Toronto (UofT) where he completed his Bachelor of Music in Horn Performance and Advanced Certificate in Performance. In these programs, Paolo studied with renowned Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) musicians, specifically Chris Gongos (Associate Principal Horn) and Audrey Good (2nd Horn). During his time at UofT, Paolo played in many ensembles in and outside of school, including the UofT Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra and UofT Wind Ensemble. Upon graduating from the University, Paolo achieved a 4.0 GPA as well as received the UofT CRESSY Leadership Award and Jean Chalmers Performance Award. Aside from academics, Paolo is also highly passionate about student leadership and held the positions of Vice President of Student Life, Student Ambassador, Residence Assistant (Don) and Orientation Chair while at the Faculty of Music.

Paolo has also attended several other prestigious summer programs and festivals. In 2022, Paolo had the great opportunity to be a member of the National Academy Orchestra of Canada (NAO). During the NAO 2022 season, Paolo put on 10 different concert programs over 9 weeks and worked with established music professionals from across Canada - such as conductor Alain Trudel. In 2021, Paolo was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada and received direct instruction from Jamie Sommerville (BSO), Jeff Nelsen (Canadian Brass) and Gabriel Radford (TSO). During this session, Paolo also had the opportunity to play a masterclass for Sarah Willis of the Berlin Philharmonic.  In addition to NYOC, Paolo has also attended Domaine Forget’s Brass Academy in 2018 and 2019 where he learned directly from musicians like Stefan Dohr and Bruno Schneider. Paolo has also been a member of the Pacific Region International Summer Music Festival (2020) and National Youth Band of Canada (2015).