Join me for an extraordinary evening of compelling works for oboe, featuring a program that spans centuries and continents while showcasing the remarkable versatility of the instrument, in collaboration with Shannon Burr, soprano, and Meng Yuan, piano.
Program
The recital opens with Ralph Vaughan Williams' Ten Blake Songs, performed alongside soprano Shannon Burr. This collaboration sets William Blake's mystical poetry to Vaughan Williams' distinctively English musical language, creating an intimate dialogue between voice and oboe that explores themes of innocence, experience, and spiritual transcendence.
Reena Esmail's Pranayam for Oboe and Piano explores the Sanskrit concept of breath control, finding natural expression through the oboe's breath-centered technique. The work fuses Western classical tradition with Indian musical elements in a meditation on breathing as both musical and spiritual practice.
The program's emotional core features two contrasting threnodies: Jeffrey Rathbun's Threnody for Oboe and Piano and Ruth Gipps' Threnody for English Horn and Piano. These emotionally charged works offer strikingly different approaches to musical lamentation with Rathbun's contemporary language confronting modern grief, while Gipps employs the English horn's darker timbre to explore more introspective mourning. Together, they create a powerful juxtaposition that moves from the life-giving breath of Pranayam into profound explorations of loss.
The solo spotlight falls on Dirk-Michael Kirsch's Ganymed for Solo Oboe, which strips away accompaniment to reveal the oboe's pure voice while exploring mythological themes of transformation.
The recital concludes with the premiere of my new work, Memoriam for Oboe and Piano. This is an efficient and poignant work which I composed during a time of recent change, partially in sorrow, but mostly in tenderness and love.
This program demonstrates the oboe's range across musical traditions and emotional landscapes in pieces which are simultaneously introspective and gazing forward.
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