Geoffrey Pilkington was appointed Principal Horn of the Washington National Opera at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 2014, after ten years of holding the Fourth Horn position. In 2011, he also joined the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra as Associate Principal/Third Horn and was featured as a soloist, performing Schumann’s Konzertstück for four horns and orchestra. Geoffrey completed his undergraduate 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. Additionally, in 2021, Geoffrey joined the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra as Guest Principal for six months.

Geoffrey has been awarded grand prizes at the International Horn Competition of America, the Royal Academy of Music in London, and The Florida Orchestra Young Artist Concerto Competition. Additionally, he has performed with the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, National Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and as Guest Principal Horn with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, The New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and The Florida Orchestra. Geoffrey 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.

Geoffrey has participated in the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival in South Africa, Spoleto Festival- Italy, Eastern Music Festival, Artosphere Festival Orchestra, and performs Chamber music with The Van Buren Winds, Market Square Concert Series and Kingston Chamber Music Festival. Mr. Pilkington is also on faculty at Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, VA. He and his wife, Kathryn, met while they were studying at Juilliard. She is a founding member and Co-Artistic Director of Washington DC’s modern dance troupe, “Company E”, as well as a modern dance instructor at George Mason University. They live in Fairfax, VA with their sons Gavin and Colin.