OUr
Founders
Gabriel Radford
Third Horn of the Toronto Symphony since 2002, Gabriel has been a busy professional for over 25 years, including playing as a guest with many orchestras, chamber music, solo engagements and commercial recording. Since fully recovering in 2022, he is back not only in his role at the TSO, but playing solo and chamber works with a renewed sense of gratitude.
Bronwen Ackermann
Bronwen Ackermann is a specialist musicians’ physiotherapist, musculoskeletal anatomist and musicians’ health researcher at the University of Sydney. Her interest in performing arts health grew as a result of working with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra since 1995, going on to work on improving occupational health as well as developing best-practice injury prevention and management strategies with all the major Australian Orchestras, as well as the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. She conducts research into musicians’ health focussing on performance-related injury prevention, performance-related injury assessment and management, optimising performance through enhancing physical and pscyhological well-being, and understanding the anatomical, physiological and biomechanical mechanisms underpinning musical performance.
Dr. Xenos Mason
Xenos Mason M.D. is a neurologist and movement disorders specialist. His current research focuses on procedural therapies for movement disorders. He is interested in the development of novel treatments for Musician’s Dystonia and other forms of occupational Dystonia. Dr. Mason is also leading development of the multidisciplinary USC Musician’s Neurology Clinic.
Dr. Mason completed his medical training at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and UCLA. He joined the USC faculty in the departments of Neurological Surgery and Neurology in 2021.
Frankie Lo Surdo
Francesco “Frankie” Lo Surdo is Fourth Horn of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. He has a Bachelor of Music Performance at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 2005, studying with Ben Jacks. In 2009 he spent a year on contract with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, where he also studied with Andrew Bain and Peter Luff, before returning to Sydney to complete his degree.As a chamber musician, he has performed with the Sydney Omega Ensemble, Sydney Brass, and the Australia Ensemble.
As an educator, Frankie was invited to be the horn tutor at the Australian Youth Orchestra’s 2014 and 2016 national music camps. In 2019 Frankie was invited to the International Horn Conference in Gent, Belgium to present a lecture on embouchure injuries, and to perform as part of the international horn ensemble “NU CORNO”. In addition to this Frankie continues to have a passion for teaching and is the current horn lecturer at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and has been guest lecturer at the University of Western Australia, Queensland Conservatorium, and the Australian National Academy of Music.
Founders
Dr. Xenos Mason
Xenos Mason M.D. is a neurologist and movement disorders specialist. His current research focuses on procedural therapies for movement disorders. He is interested in the development of novel treatments for Musician’s Dystonia and other forms of occupational Dystonia. Dr. Mason is also leading development of the multidisciplinary USC Musician’s Neurology Clinic.
Dr. Mason completed his medical training at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and UCLA. He joined the USC faculty in the departments of Neurological Surgery and Neurology in 2021.
Gabriel Radford
Third Horn of the Toronto Symphony since 2002, Gabriel has been a busy professional for over 25 years, including playing as a guest with many orchestras, chamber music, solo engagements and commercial recording. Since fully recovering in 2022, he is back not only in his role at the TSO, but playing solo and chamber works with a renewed sense of gratitude.
Bronwen Ackermann
Bronwen Ackermann is a specialist musicians’ physiotherapist, musculoskeletal anatomist and musicians’ health researcher at the University of Sydney. Her interest in performing arts health grew as a result of working with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra since 1995, going on to work on improving occupational health as well as developing best-practice injury prevention and management strategies with all the major Australian Orchestras, as well as the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. She conducts research into musicians’ health focussing on performance-related injury prevention, performance-related injury assessment and management, optimising performance through enhancing physical and pscyhological well-being, and understanding the anatomical, physiological and biomechanical mechanisms underpinning musical performance.
Frankie Lo Surdo
Francesco “Frankie” Lo Surdo is Fourth Horn of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. He has a Bachelor of Music Performance at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 2005, studying with Ben Jacks. In 2009 he spent a year on contract with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, where he also studied with Andrew Bain and Peter Luff, before returning to Sydney to complete his degree.As a chamber musician, he has performed with the Sydney Omega Ensemble, Sydney Brass, and the Australia Ensemble.
As an educator, Frankie was invited to be the horn tutor at the Australian Youth Orchestra’s 2014 and 2016 national music camps. In 2019 Frankie was invited to the International Horn Conference in Gent, Belgium to present a lecture on embouchure injuries, and to perform as part of the international horn ensemble “NU CORNO”. In addition to this Frankie continues to have a passion for teaching and is the current horn lecturer at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and has been guest lecturer at the University of Western Australia, Queensland Conservatorium, and the Australian National Academy of Music.
Collaborative Expansion
A Growing Network
We don’t offer a one size fits all solution, so we welcome all voices, opinions and strategies to help. If you are a medical professional, be it doctor, practitioner or therapist, please reach out. If you are a musician who has questions about their embouchure, who is concerned about changes or other symptoms, please reach out. If you are a teacher who wants techniques and ideas to inform and advise their students, please reach out.
Joining the network simply means staying in touch and being willing to engage with the research and practice of helping.
Transforming Embouchure Care
How It Works
When you reach out to TEP, you will be reaching out to Frankie or Gabriel. These communications will be considered strictly confidential.
- If you are a musician in need of help, we can offer you a bit of advice, a quick chat or a 15-minute zoom call to get you oriented on the path to health. We will try to determine where you are on your journey and what you might need. We will offer you a number of options in the network to pursue on your own time, in the order you think best. This is all free and confidential.
- If you are a doctor looking to know more, we will let you know of existing and emerging research into Embouchure Syndrome and Dystonia and put you in touch with those in your field who are the most experienced in treating these disorders.
- If you are a practitioner, therapist, or psychologist, we will point you in the direction of training in embouchure dysfunction treatments and share the existing and emerging strategies.
- If you are simply curious, we are here to satisfy that curiosity…reach out!
Guiding Values
Our Principles
- We will take no money. While professionals in the network will charge for their time as usual, The Embouchure Project is completely free to access.
- We do not have all the answers. While we hope to help, we do not have one philosophy that governs our recommendations. We believe that each person finds their own path to recovery. We facilitate the beginning of that journey.
- Science comes first. We want the network to help right now, with the goal of improving outcomes by formally studying potential solutions and proving efficacy. The long term goals is to eliminate Embouchure Syndrome and Dystonia.
FAQ’s Topics
Frequently Asked Questions
Our Family
