Cally Banham was appointed to the Solo English horn position in 2006. Before joining the SLSO, she held posts, including English horn with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Principal Oboe with the Memphis Symphony, Fellow with the New World Symphony, and English horn with Orquesta Sinfonica del Estado de Mexico, in Toluca, Mexico.
She has performed as a guest English horn with the New York Philharmonic, New Jersey Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Cleveland Orchestra. In 2013, she transformed her hobby of dancing Argentine Tango into a musical pursuit. She founded Cortango, a tango/classical/jazz fusion ensemble. Cortango released its debut album, Tandas, in 2015. As the leader of Cortango, and Executive Producer of Tandas, Banham appeared as a guest on the PBS national program Arts America. In 2018, she co-produced her own solo Christmas album, Cor Christmas, which received extensive radio play in North America, and was featured as Album of the Week by KUSC Los Angeles and KDFC San Francisco, and highlighted on Classical MPR and NPR Performance Today.
Cally is a scholar of the history of Tango, and she produces and hosts the radio program “Tango with Cally”, which airs weekly on Classic 107.3 St. Louis and WXXI Classical Rochester.
A native of Philadelphia, Cally graduated from Temple University and the Manhattan School of Music. She studied with Louis Rosenblatt and Joseph Robinson. She lives in Lafayette Square St. Louis with her two cats, Grizabella and JB.