CHICAGO (AP) — A French horn player who has been with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for nearly five decades is retiring.

The orchestra announced Dale Clevenger's retirement on Tuesday and says it's effective June 30. Clevenger joined the orchestra in 1966 and has been with the organization for 47 years. He's a French horn legend in his own right and has performed under the batons of Jean Martinon, Georg Solti, Daniel Barenboim and current music director Riccardo Muti.

Muti calls Clevenger "a true musician and dedicated teacher." Grammy and Academy Award-winning composer John Williams wrote a horn concerto for Clevenger, which he performed at a world premiere in 2004.

This fall Clevenger will become a full-time professor in the brass department at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University in Bloomington.