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Sadie Glass
Sadie Glass
At University of the Pacific, Sadie Glass teaches applied horn lessons, varied ensembles, music fundamentals and brass methods, and serves as faculty advisor for the Pacific Brass Society.
Her teaching philosophy follows a progression from alphorn to natural horn to modern horn, using the harmonic series as a shared thread across instruments. She has built a distinctive curriculum around this progression at Pacific and as a member of the summer faculty at Cormont Horn Camp, one of the nation's premier intensive horn programs.
Glass is deeply invested in her students' professional growth, having brought her entire horn studio to perform, compete and present alongside her at the Northwest Horn Symposium in Washington State and the International Horn Symposium in Fort Collins, Colorado. Students continue traveling to alphorn workshops across the country this year through the Alphorn Project, a nationwide initiative exploring the instrument's role in innovative brass pedagogy and performance. Alumni accomplishments include graduate placements at Yale, USC, and the University of Michigan, and honors including co-winner of the University Division at the International Horn Competition of America (Braydon Ross ‘24).
As an active performer, Glass is a tenured member of the Monterey Symphony and has performed with the San Francisco Symphony, Stockton Symphony and Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera. As a specialist in historical horn, she performs with leading period-instrument ensembles throughout the United States, including Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Apollo's Fire and Seattle Baroque Orchestra. She also presents clinics and masterclasses nationwide, including CASMEC, the International Horn Symposium and the Alphorn Association of North America.
In 2026, Glass represented the U.S. at the International Alphorn Festival in Nendaz, Switzerland, one of Europe's most prestigious alphorn competitions, placing fifth in the Solo category and sixth with Trio Sierra Alphorns in the Formation category, results that rank among the strongest ever posted by an American entrant. Highlights from her upcoming 2026-27 performance season include an international tour with the early music ensemble Les Délices, culminating in a performance through Friends of Chamber Music at Pacific, and performing Laura Nelson's “Alphorn Concerto” with the Zion Chamber Orchestra.
Glass is also a champion of the alphorn as a teaching tool, having joined the inaugural cohort of the Alphorn Project in fall 2025. Through this work, she directs the Pacific Alphorn Ensemble, which has been accepted to perform at the Tahoe Alphorn Experience, California; Southwest Horn Workshop in Orem, Utah; and led a research trip to Switzerland. In 2026-27, she is organizing and serving on faculty for three national alphorn workshops through the Alphorn Association of North America, beginning with the Northern California Alphorn Festival at Pacific in August 2026, and was also on faculty at the 2026 Leavenworth International Alphorn Festival.
In her free time, Glass enjoys spending time with her family, traveling and working on DIY projects.
MM, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
BM, University of Wisconsin Stevens Point
The Alphorn Project at Pacific
The alphorn, a wooden natural instrument rooted in Swiss alpine tradition, might seem like an unlikely fit for a modern brass studio. At University of the Pacific, it has become one of the most exciting teaching tools. Through the Alphorn Project, a nationwide initiative exploring the instrument's role in innovative brass pedagogy and performance, Sadie Glass and the entire brass studio use the alphorn's open harmonic series to build a deeper, more intuitive understanding of horn playing, from first-year fundamentals all the way through to modern instruments.
How it works: Because the alphorn has no valves, students engage directly with the harmonic series, the same overtone relationships that shape horn playing at every level. This hands-on foundation carries forward into natural horn and modern horn study, giving Pacific horn students a progression few programs in the country offer.
Pacific's studio is home to 12 alphorns, generously provided on donated loan through the Alphorn Association of North America.
Student research and performance:
- Ciera Alkhoury (first year) was awarded a competitive SURF undergraduate research grant for "Using Century-Old Methods to Inform Modern Horn Playing and Pedagogy." Professor Glass mentored Alkhoury and traveled with her to Switzerland in Summer 2026 for field research at the International Alphorn Festival in Nendaz.
- At Pacific's Undergraduate Research and Creativity Showcase, Glass served as faculty advisor for first year student's, Ciera Alkhoury and Lily Walter, who presented a research poster and performed on the alphorn.
- Ciera Alkhoury was named the Alphorn Association of North America Student Fellow for 2026-27, and was interviewed about her research on the Association's podcast: Ciera Alkhoury on the AANA Podcast
- The Pacific Alphorn Ensemble has performed at the Tahoe Alphorn Experience and the Southwest Horn Workshop in Orem, Utah
Hear more: Professor Glass discussed the Alphorn Project on the Alphorn Association of North America's podcast: Sadie Glass and the Alphorn Project
Natural Horn
Natural Horn Pedagogy at Pacific
Sadie Glass is a leading specialist in early horn music. Alongside its work with the alphorn, her Pacific Horn Studio maintains a strong tradition in natural horn performance, the valveless ancestor of the modern instrument central to Classical and early Romantic repertoire. Students from every major receive at least one semester of natural horn lesson, giving them a rare hands-on foundation in period performance practice.
Professional-level instruments: The studio houses two professional-level natural horns: a Halari model by Richard Seraphinoff and a Bohemian-style natural horn by Jungwirth, giving students access to instruments built to the same standard used by leading period-performance specialists nationwide.
On stage every year: Natural horns are featured annually with the Pacific Orchestras, giving students the opportunity to perform on period instruments in a full orchestral setting. Past performances include Mozart's Symphony No. 41 and Beethoven's Symphony No. 1.
