Biography

James Thatcher began his professional career at the age of 16 when he played and studied in Mexico City with his uncle, Gerald Thatcher, former principal hornist with the National Symphony of Mexico.  Mr. Thatcher has been a member of the Phoenix Symphony, the Utah Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Today he is principal horn of the Pasadena Symphony and the Los Angeles Music Center Opera, but principally he is a studio player, a recipient of the Most Valuable Player Award from the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences, and arguably the most often heard horn player in the world due to his performances on some 70 to 80 films per year for the last 15 years.  Mr. Thatcher has recently recorded his first solo album, Now Playing, of which reviewer Chris Huning wrote in Horn Magazine that “Thatcher shows his supreme mastery of the instrument.”