Arban & Kosleck at 200: Symposium Recap

20-21 November; Conservatoire Nationale Supérieur Musique et Danse, Lyon, FR 

By Stephen M. Wadsack | 23 December, 2025

The Historic Brass Society recently co-hosted a special topical symposium with the Conservatoire National Supérieur Musique et Danse, celebrating the lives and legacies of two early cornet pioneers: Jean-Baptiste Arban and Julius Kosleck. We are incredibly grateful to all who supported this special event, with attendees joining us from throughout Europe, South America, and the United States.

Below, we have included a Symposium Recap featuring some highlights from these two wonderful days of scholarship, fellowship, and performance in Lyon. We hope you'll consider joining us soon at future HBS events! 

Day 1:

The Arban & Kosleck Symposium began with a welcome and opening remarks from our co-organizers, Sandy Coffin and Jean-François Madeuf, followed by our first Keynote speaker, Xavier Canin, on the topic of esteemed cornetist Jean-Baptiste Arban. Canin's address focused on not only Arban's achievements as performer, but also on his multifaceted career as an educator, entrepreneur, composer, and inventor.

Canin's new publication, which was available for purchase at the Symposium,
delves into these topics with great detail. Jean-François Madeuf (L), Xavier Canin (Center), and Sandy Coffin (R), introductory remarks and Keynote Address on Day 1.

Additional presenters throughout the first morning included Elisa Koehler, President of the Historic Brass Society; Jean-Daniel Souchon; and Stanley Curtis, accompanied on piano by Warren Apple. Topics delved into French cornet literature of the mid-Nineteenth Century, historical analysis of Salles-Wagner's portrait depticting a trumpeter aboard the ship la Belle Poule, and an overview of the legacies of Arban and Kosleck.

After refreshments and a brief intermission for lunch, presentations continued throughout the afternoon and into early evening. Robert Apple presented a lecture on surviving works for two keyed trumpets, joined by Stanley Curtis for brief excerpt demonstrations; Thomas Hiebert and Jeroen Billiet presented two separate and fascinating lectures on repertoire for the horn, focusing specifically on études and their value as learning tools.

In the early evening, Stewart Carter and Géry Dumoulin presented on the personal relationships between mid-nineteenth century French composers such as Arban, Sax, and Berlioz, as well as Arban-related musical artifacts in the Musical Instrument Museum of Brussels, respectively. Another highlight of the afternoon was a Roundtable Discussion and reflection featuring several respected pedagogues and performers from throughout both Europe and the United States. Members of the roundtable included Allan Dean, Vincent DiMartino, Ryan Gardner, Jean-François Madeuf, John Miller, and Clément Saunier. HBS President Elisa Koehler presided over the session as moderator and as a contributor to the discussions.

Day One's evening concert was, by all accounts, an audience favorite. Featured in performance were Stanley Curtis and Robert Apple on keyed trumpet replicas; Vince DiMartino and Clément Saunier presented works for both solo cornet and two cornets on surviving nineteenth-century cornets, accompanied by Arthur Schoondewoerd on piano; to close the evening, the Conservatoire Fanfare Ensemble performed a thrilling set of pieces featuring a wide array of historic brass instruments, under the musical direction of Jean-François Madeuf, who also performed alongside his students. 

Day 2: 

The second day of festivities shifted to focus primarily on the life and career of Julius Kosleck. Keynote speaker Willi Budde presented a fantastic address on the life of Kosleck in nineteenth-century Prussia, along with several wonderful musical demonstrations that featured his extensive collection of instruments from this time period, accompanied on piano by Arthur Schoondewoerd. Also presenting in the morning were Helen Barsby, on the subject of Julius Kosleck's comprehensive method for cornet and trumpet; and Ann-Marie Nilsson with the sextet Prins Carl from the Band of the Royal Life Guard Dragoons, based in Stockholm, who presented a lecture recital detailing the history of Swedish brass instruments, repertoire, and instrumentation.

In the afternoon, presentations continued by John Miller, detailing nineteenth-century brass performance practice; George Foreman on the virtuosity of British-American cornetist Jules Levy; Tiago Viana de Freitas on the history of the trumpet in Minas Gerais, Brazil, specifically in the eighteenth- and nineteenth centuries; Eric Roefs on the Kaiser-Cornett-Quartet, and their performances of music by Wilhelm Ramsøe; and Sandy Coffin, who presented on the i'deal of Fraternité among brass musicians, with special attention given to the brass music scene in Paris between the 1830s and 1860s.

Pictured: sextet Prins Carl of the Band of the Royal Life Guard Dragoons

Another Roundtable Discussion focused on organlology: the instruments that would have been used in Arban and Kosleck's time, as well as the legacy and influence they had on future players. Members of the roundtable included: Helen Barsby, Willi Budde, Géry Demoulin, Arnold Myers, and Adrian von Steiger. The roundtable was presided over by Sabine Klaus, who also contributed to discussions and posed thoughtful questions for the group's reflection.

(From L to R): T.J. Tesh, Tiago Viana de Freitas, Stephen M. Wadsack

The Symposium's culmination included a thrilling closing concert, featuring performances by Brass Unlimited (Willi Budde, Helen Barsby, Jean-François Madeuf, Beth Chouinard Mitchell), sextet Prins Carl, and the Kosleck’sche Bläserbund: a collection of professional musicians from Brass Unlimited, sextet Prins Carl, and special guests, performing on instruments from Willi Budde's collection, under the direction of Helen Barsby. The audience's reception of all three ensembles was nothing short of enthusiastic, and the mass performance felt an appropriate conclusion to these two days of new friendships, community-building, and collaboration.

Pictured (from L to R): Members of Brass Unlimited; Beth Chouinard Mitchell, Jean-François Madeuf, Helen Barsby, Willi Budde

Thanks to all who joined us in Lyon for this spectacular event! We'd especially like to thank our co-organizers, Sandy Coffin and Jean-François Madeuf, as well as Baptiste Chopin and the fantastic staff of the Conservatoire for their tireless work organizing this symposium in Lyon.

Pictured: Members of the Kosleck’sche Bläserbund, Helen Barsby, director

Images courtesy of Stephen Wadsack and Wille Budde (visit brassunlimited.de for additional coverage of the symposium's events).