As a student at the University of Alabama, Jonathan Croy was no stranger to pursuing his interest in French Horn performance. His resume includes a year with the Million Dollar Band, as well as contributions to such prestigious ensembles as the Alabama Wind Ensemble, the Huxford Symphony and the Alabama Symphonic Band.

Over the summer, Croy was informed of an extraordinary opportunity by Dr. Amr Abulnaga, principal horn of the Cairo Symphony and recent Doctoral graduate of the University of Alabama. Upon hearing of Croy’s interest in orchestral auditions, Dr. Abulnaga told him about two vacancies for French Horn in the Middle East, with the Amman Symphony Orchestra in Jordan and the Cairo Symphony in Egypt.

Taking full advantage of the openings, Croy auditioned for both spots and received both jobs. Now, the University Of Alabama School Of Music has a representative in the Amman Symphony Orchestra.

Croy describes the Amman Symphony Orchestra as a very diverse organization, with members coming from such countries as Korea, China, Romania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Russia, Bulgaria, America and Jordan. With such a broad spectrum of nationalities, representing so many different educational experiences, life within the orchestra is both interesting and demanding as everyone works to meet the goals of the conductor and find the best way to merge musical personalities.

Croy is charged with performing not only with the Symphony Orchestra, but also with the Sinfonietta, the Wood Wind Quintet and teaching as a Professor at the National Music Conservatory of King Hussein.

With the season under way, Croy’s most memorable moment came during a concert at a resort on the Dead Sea, as musicians arrived with the setting sun to play for a party staying in rooms that started at about $6000 dollars a night (a party that included the Prime Minister).

The experience of life in Jordan outside the Orchestra is just as diverse as life in the Orchestra. Take a moment to imagine a life where you must purchase bottled water to drink, where there is no recycling in a city of over 2 million, where Arabic music is proudly being played somewhere within earshot, where Mosques with ritual prayers announced five times a day replace churches on every corner, where you need to taxi to get very far, where smoking is more prevalent all the time than (dare I say it) beverage consumption on a game day in Tuscaloosa, and where a six day work week finds your day of rest not on Sunday, but Friday.

But take that image and add to it the most important part - the people. Those people are ones Croy has referred to as loving. Jordanians twice in one night invited Croy into their homes as they saw him walking at night, a gesture that even very few Southerners would consider. Such compassion is found throughout the population of Amman, according to Croy.

Jonathan Croy followed the waves of the professional music ocean to Amman Jordan and took full advantage of his opportunity to do what he loves - playing French Horn - as a member of the Amman Symphony Orchestra. In a field where you must take every opportunity to stay afloat, it is the hard working and adventurous Jonathan Croys' that will have the most to tell of their successes.

by Neil Adams