Bio
Making her mark across the Midwest and Appalachia, Dr. Briana Pepilascov-Childers is an accomplished hornist, dynamic collaborator, and dedicated educator. As Principal Horn of CityMusic Cleveland, she has been praised by ClevelandClassical.com for contributing “perfectly weighted pearls of sound” to an ensemble celebrated for its “bath of tonal beauty.”
Her extensive performance footprint spans the Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio Tri-State areas, as well as Tennessee, West Virginia, and Virginia. She has performed with numerous other ensembles, including the Lexington Philharmonic, Miami Valley Symphony Orchestra, Cave Run Symphony Orchestra, Anderson Symphony Orchestra, and Yellow Springs Orchestra.
Beyond the orchestral stage, Dr. Pepilascov-Childers is an active scholar and multifaceted artist. Her recent projects include performing for the Broadway Podcast Network’s The Flame – A Podcast Musical and co-authoring the article "Positive Outlooks on Performances," published in the Summer 2023 issue of The Horn Call magazine.
A passionate educator, Dr. Pepilascov-Childers maintains a thriving private studio where her pre-college students consistently earn top placements in local Honor Band and All-State auditions, frequently securing collegiate music scholarships. She is also a highly sought-after adjudicator, having served the University of Kentucky Horn Studio, the Morehead State University Honor Band Clinic, and the 13th District Solo and Ensemble for Sycamore Community Schools.
Dr. Pepilascov-Childers earned her Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Kentucky in May 2023. She also holds a Master of Music Performance from Miami University (Oxford), a Bachelor of Music from Wright State University, and an Associate of Music from Sinclair Community College. Throughout her career, she has studied under the tutelage of distinguished hornists, including Katy Woolley, Dr. Margaret Tung, Tom Sherwood, Aaron Brant, Jonas Thoms, Sean Vore, Renee Parcell, and Molly Norcross.
When she is not teaching, practicing, or performing, Briana enjoys spending time outdoors with her partner and their dogs, and is a devoted Cincinnati Bengals fan—Who Dey!
Artistic Statement
Playing the horn feels like the most honest thing I have ever done.
I didn't always know that. I switched from trumpet in middle school—tired of being one of twenty people playing the exact same melody—and spent the next 20 years discovering what I had stumbled into. The horn lives in the music. It holds, it blends, and it breathes underneath everything else. From that vantage point, you hear the whole picture in a way a melody instrument rarely does. Playing isn't about trying to be heard; it is about belonging to something larger than myself.
That search for connection is at the center of everything I do. It is why I am drawn to small chamber groups like quintets: there is no conductor, and every voice plays a vital role. And yet, when playing unaccompanied—just me and the horn, no pianist and nowhere to hide—I feel no fear of exposure. There is only freedom.
I teach horn at Morehead State University because that search for connection lives in the studio, too: the connection between a student and their own voice. Every student arrives with their own unique toolbox of instincts, strengths, and ways of hearing. My job is to help them expand it by adding new skills and insight. When they leave my studio, my goal is they are ready to be their own best teacher.
I am a married queer woman living and making music in Kentucky. Some days, simply showing up—on stage, in the studio, fully myself—feels like the most important thing I do. My horn is my safe space. I hope you feel that safety, too.
