Valerie Ankeney

Educational Credentials

M.M., Performance, Colburn Conservatory
P.S.C., Performance, Colburn Conservatory
B.M., Performance, Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester

Biography

Raised in Dayton, Ohio, Valerie Ankeney is Acting Assistant Principal/Utility Horn of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Prior to this appointment, she was Acting Assistant Principal/Utility Horn of The Florida Orchestra. She has performed with the Los Angles Philharmonic at both the Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl. She has recorded at the famed FOX studios on Principal Horn and performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Naples Philharmonic and Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. In her summers, she held engagements with the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra, Pacific Music Festival, Sarasota Music Festival, Brevard Music Festival, and Texas Music Festival and worked as a Fellow at the Perlman Music Program.

Ankeney can be heard on the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s newly released American Dreams album in 2024 and the Grammy-nominated Transatlantic album released in 2019 both led by Music Director Louis Langrée. She can also be heard on the LA Phil’s Fandango album led by Gustavo Dudamel released in 2023.

Ankeney is passionate about chamber music and loved performing with brass and woodwind quintets throughout the Los Angeles area and in Cincinnati with members of the CSO. Through her time at Eastman, her horn quartet won the concerto competition and performed with the Eastman Wind Ensemble.

Ankeney received her Master of Music degree and Professional Studies Certificate with a Teaching Emphasis from the Colburn Conservatory. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music and was a recipient of the coveted Performer’s Certificate. Her teachers include Andrew Bain, W. Peter Kurau, Elizabeth Freimuth, and Robert Johnson.

Ankeney is excited to share her passion of the horn with the next generation of musicians as she joins the brass faculty of Miami University.