Boise State Horn Professor David Saunders Dies at 27 Years Post Retire

David Saunders died in August 2026 from injuries sustained in an accident while hiking. He served as a professor at Boise State University for 27 years before retiring in 2019.

Saunders taught French Horn, music history, and music theory during his tenure. He provided private instrument lessons to French Horn students who later attended top conservatories and joined orchestras across the United States. His history classes were required for every music student at the university.

Jeanne Belfy, a professor emerita, described Saunders as a dedicated educator who held firm to principles from his Ivy League education and professional performance background. She noted he was her final colleague in the music history department. Belfy said he absorbed those principles from years of professional orchestral and chamber music horn performance and conducting.

Beyond his classroom duties, Saunders performed regularly in solo recitals. He also played with brass and woodwind chamber groups composed of fellow faculty members. Leslie Moreau, a clarinet professor, recalled touring the Pacific Northwest with the Boise State Woodwind Quintet. These trips were largely facilitated by Saunders driving his minivan.

Moreau said she particularly enjoyed playing Hindemith’s Quintet and the Poulenc Sextet with Saunders. The group performed together in many faculty tours and public shows.

Saunders directed the Treasure Valley Youth Symphony for 13 years. In that role, he introduced high school musicians to major works of symphonic literature. Many of those students went on to study music at Boise State and other renowned conservatories.

He led the youth symphony in annual silent film concerts at The Egyptian Theater. The ensemble played live music alongside silent films on the screen. Saunders is survived by his wife, Phyllis Saunders, and his sons, Jacob and Jonathan. Phyllis performed with the Boise Philharmonic and taught orchestra in the Boise School District. Jacob is associate principal cello in the Boise Philharmonic and earned a Master of Music in Cello Performance at Boise State.