Press Release: Music for Three – Part II March 23, 2010
For Immediate Release
For more information, contact David R. Johnson, 216-5595
Brightmusic Society of Oklahoma – Concert 5 of the 2009-10 Season
“Music for Three – Part II”
featuring piano trios with strings, woodwinds and a tenor vocalist,
composed by Edward Knight, Charles Martin Loeffler, Giovanni Bottesini
and Maurice Ravel
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
7:30 pm (reception following)
St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral
127 NW 7th Street (at Robinson), OKC
Oklahoma City’s own chamber music ensemble – Brightmusic – will present its fifth concert of the 2009-10 season featuring four piano trios, in diverse combinations with viola, double bass, oboe, clarinet and tenor vocalist. This concert will present the world premiere of a new work by Dr. Edward Knight, professor of music and composer-in-residence at Oklahoma City University, a work that Brightmusic commissioned.
The works on the program are Knight’s new work for tenor, clarinet and piano; Loeffler’s Two Rhapsodies for oboe, viola and piano; Bottesini’s Gran Duetto for clarinet, double bass and piano; and Ravel’s Trio in A minor for piano, violin and cello.
The Brightmusic musicians who will appear are: Gregory Lee (violin), Royce McLarry (viola), Jonathan Ruck (cello), George Speed (double bass), Lisa Harvey-Reed (oboe), Chad Burrow (clarinet), William Nield Christensen (tenor) and Amy I-Lin Cheng (piano).
The concert will take place on Tuesday evening, March 23rd, 2010 at 7:30 pm at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral, 127 NW 7th Street (at Robinson). Admission is free, although contributions are very much appreciated. A reception with the musicians will follow the concert.
Supplemental Information concerning the March 23, 2010 Concert
Brightmusic Musicians Appearing:
Violin: Dr. Gregory Lee, concertmaster of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic and assistant professor of violin at the University of Oklahoma.
Viola: Royce McLarry, principal violist of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic and a music faculty member at Oklahoma Christian University.
Cello: Tomasz Zieba, associate principal cellist of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic and an instructor of cello at Oklahoma City University.
Double Bass: George Speed, principal bassist with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic and assistant professor of cello at Oklahoma State University.
Oboe: Lisa Harvey-Reed, principal oboist of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic and the Lawton Philharmonic, and a music faculty member at Oklahoma City University.
Clarinet: ChadBurrow, native Oklahoman; former principal clarinetist, Oklahoma City Philharmonic and associate professor of clarinet at Oklahoma City University; assistant professor of clarinet, University of Michigan; Co-Artistic Director of Brightmusic.
Tenor Vocalist: Dr. William Nield Christensen, associate professor of music, Oklahoma City University, and a featured soloist with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic and musical ensembles throughout the world.
Piano: Amy I-Lin Cheng, concert pianist, formerly the head of the piano program at Oklahoma City University and a featured soloist with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic; Co-Artistic Director of Brightmusic.
Musical Works To Be Performed:
Edward Knight, New Work for tenor, clarinet and piano: Dr. Edward Knight is a professor of music, composer-in-residence and director of composition at Oklahoma City University. He has composed works for orchestra, symphonic band, percussion ensemble and piano trio, as well as a clarinet sonata, cabaret songs, two fanfares and two original, full-length romantic musical comedies. In 2007, Brightmusic commissioned Dr. Knight to compose a chamber music work in honor of the Oklahoma Centennial. The new work, Beneath a Cinnamon Moon for clarinet, viola and piano, premiered at Brightmusic’s January 23, 2007 concert and was performed again at the 2007 OK Mozart Festival in Bartlesville. He is a member of the board of directors of Brightmusic.
Charles Martin Loeffler, Two Rhapsodies for oboe, viola and piano: Loeffler was a German-born American composer who lived from 1861-1935. He was a violinist who studied with the legendary Joseph Joachim, among others. He immigrated from Germany to to the United States in 1882 and became a U.S. citizen in 1887. He performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the BSO regularly performed his new compositions. He maintained a wide circle of musical friends, including Fauré, Busoni and Gershwin. Two Rhapsodies is probably his best-known chamber music work, composed over a number of years and finished in 1905. These rhapsodies rework two songs that were set to texts by the poet Maurice Rollinart. It reflects the musical colors and imagery of impressionism.
Giovanni Bottesini, Gran Duetto for clarinet, double bass and piano: Bottesini was an Italian Romantic composer, conductor and double bass virtuoso. He lived from 1821 to 1889. After studying at the Milan Conservatory, he established a reputation in London and the European continent as a performer, a composer of operas and instrumental music, and a conductor (especially of operas, including his own). He composed the single-movement Gran Duetto in 1880, originally for two double basses and orchestra. It is still performed that way today. In addition, it has been adapted to several different chamber music formats, including the trio that features piano and clarinet with the double bass, which Brightmusic will perform.
Maurice Ravel, Trio in A minor for piano, violin and cello: Maurice Ravel was a French Romantic composer who lived from 1875 to 1937. In addition to chamber music, he composed orchestral music (Bolero was instantaneous famous, well before its memorable use in the 1979 movie “10”). He also composed ballets, operas and vocal works, as well as a large number of truly virtuosic works for piano. Ravel composed this brilliant piano trio in 1914, shortly before he abandoned music temporarily to serve as an ambulance driver for the French army during World War I. This Trio has four movements. The first is in a sonata-allegro form. The second is a scherzo, which sounds very “French” to many listeners. The third is a passacaglia with two themes and a massive climax. And the fourth is a quick-paced finale that, just to give the musicians a bit of a challenge, shifts meters between 5/4 and 7/4. The Trio closes with what one music critic called “passionate shimmering trills from the strings and a wild whoosh or two from the piano.”
