John C. Dressler

Education

• Doctor of Music distinction award in French Horn performance by Indiana University
• Master of Music with distinction in French Horn performance from Indiana University
• B.A in Music Education from Baldwin Wallace University

Expertise

• French Horn

• Musicology

Biography

Dr. John C. Dressler served as a professor and academic advisor at Murray State University for 28 years, from 1989 until 2017, and has since remained a constant figure inside the Music Department. He is currently a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Horn and Musicology, where he continues to provide piano accompaniment and guidance to students of all levels. Dr. Dressler holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Baldwin-Wallace College in Ohio, a Masters of Music with distinction in French horn performance from Indiana University, and he holds the first Doctor of Music distinction award in French horn performance by Indiana University. Dr. Dressler received the Regents’ Awards for Teaching Excellence in 2008, and he was also awarded the “Golden Apple” from the MSU Alumni Association in 2017 for going above and beyond his duties by providing excellence inside and outside the classroom and for his dedication to Murray State University over the past 30 years. He has also served as the Clark Residential College Head and Faculty Fellow of MSU’s chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon.

Dr. Dressler has a passion for British music and recently completed several weeks of research in London for a book on British film composers. Additionally, he has authored four books profiling and examining the works of various 20th-century British composers and their works, including Gerald Finzi, Alan Rawsthorne, William Alwyn, and Granville Bantock. Dr. Dressler is also a classical music presenter for WKMS, the Murray State University sponsored radio station. His weekly program, Classical Encore, is heard throughout the quad-state region of west Tennessee, west Kentucky, southern Illinois, and southern Indiana. His show offers two hours of classical music favorites on Sundays at 5am on the main channel, and on the All-Classical Channel on Sundays at 11am, Mondays at 7am, and Thursdays at 4pm.

He continues to perform on Horn substituting in regional orchestras and plays annually in the Sherborne Summer Chamber Orchestra in SW England. His church music service continues at Broadway United Methodist Church, Paducah where he is co-organist/pianist.

Prior to his coming to the West Kentucky area, Dr. Dressler was a member of the music faculty at Baylor University, the University of Georgia, and Jacksonville University in Florida. Dr. Dressler has also served as Principal horn with the touring orchestras of the Joffrey Ballet and Royal Danish Ballet.

He was the resident Principal horn with the Opera Midwest in Evanston, IL, and both the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra in Florida and the Savannah Symphony Orchestra in Georgia. He has been a member of the Paducah Symphony Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony, the Evansville Philharmonic, and the Owensboro Symphony Orchestras. He continues to be a presenter and performer at regional and international conferences of the International Horn Society, and biannually at the Edward Elgar Society meeting in York England. A copy of his dissertation, “The Orchestral Horn Quartet in German Romantic Opera”, is available on loan from the International Horn Society and via interlibrary loan from most public libraries.