Geoffrey Pilkington was appointed principal horn of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra in 2014, after ten years of holding the fourth horn position in the same orchestra. Pilkington completed his degree at The Juilliard School studying with Julie Landsman, and spent a year abroad at the Royal Academy of Music in London studying with Michael Thompson and Richard Watkins. In 2011, he joined the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra as associate principal/third horn and was featured as a soloist, performing Schumann’s Konzertstuck for four horns and orchestra. An accomplished recitalist, Pilkington has been awarded grand prizes at the International Horn Competition of America, The Florida Orchestra Concerto Competition and the Royal Academy of Music in London. Additionally, he has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and as guest principal horn with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He was featured as a soloist in the 2016 Wagner Ring Cycles at the Kennedy Center, and has joined the San Francisco Opera for six complete Ring Cycles in 2011, and 2018. Pilkington met his wife, Kathryn, while they were studying at Juilliard. She is a founding member and co-artistic director of Washington, D.C.’s modern dance troupe, Company E, as well as a modern dance instructor at George Mason University. They live in Northern Virginia with their sons Gavin and Colin.