Press Release: Season Finale
For Immediate Release
Brightmusic Society of Oklahoma – Concert 6 of the 2009-10 Season
featuring six Romantic and Modern works for flute, oboe,
clarinet, bassoon, horn, piano and tenor vocalist composed by
Camille Saint-Saëns, Kris Maloy, Lee Hoiby, Felix Mendelssohn,
Ferenc Farkas and Francis Poulenc
Monday, April 19, 2010
7:30 pm (reception following)
Fee Theatre at Casady School
9500 N. Pennsylvania Ave. (at Britton Rd.)
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
7:30 pm (reception following)
St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral
127 N. 7th (at Robinson)
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Oklahoma City’s own chamber music ensemble – Brightmusic – will present two performances of its final concert of the 2009-10 season, featuring compositions of six Romantic and Modern composers, performed by seven Brightmusic musicians in different combinations.
The works on the program are Saint-Saëns’ Caprice on Danish and Russian Airs, op. 79; the world premiere of Maloy’s Flourish: A Concertino in Molto Perpetuo; four of Hoiby’s Art Songs; Mendelssohn’s Concert Piece for clarinet, bassoon and piano No. 2 in D minor, op. 114; Farkas’ Antique Dances for Wind Quintet; and Poulenc’s Sextet for piano and wind instruments.
Brightmusic musicians appearing are: Parthena Owens (flute), Lisa Harvey-Reed (oboe), Chad Burrow (clarinet), Carl Rath (bassoon), Kate Pritchett (horn), Amy I-Lin Cheng (piano) and William Nield Christensen (tenor).
The concert performances will take place: (1) on Monday, April 19th at 7:30 pm at the Fee Theatre on the campus of Casady School, 9500 N. Pennsylvania Avenue in Northwest Oklahoma City (use Pennsylvania Avenue entrance) and (2) on Tuesday, April 20th at 7:30 pm at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral, 127 NW 7th at Robinson, in Downtown Oklahoma City. Admission is free, although contributions are very much appreciated. A reception with the musicians will follow each performance.
Supplemental Information concerning the April 19-20, 2010 Concerts
Brightmusic Musicians Appearing:
Flute: Parthena Owens, flutist with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra and a member of the music faculty at Oklahoma City University.
Oboe: Lisa Harvey-Reed, principal oboist of the Oklahoma City and Lawton Philharmonic Orchestras and a member of the music faculty at Oklahoma City University.
Clarinet: Chad Burrow, 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.
Bassoon: Carl Rath, principal bassoonist of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra and the associate professor of bassoon at the University of Oklahoma.
Horn: Dr. Kate Pritchett, hornist with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra and a member of the music faculty at Oklahoma City University.
Piano: Amy I-Lin Cheng, concert pianist, former head of the piano program at Oklahoma City University and a featured soloist with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic; Co-Artistic Director of Brightmusic.
Tenor: Dr. William Nield Christensen has sung in major concert venues and with major ensembles throughout the world, and is an associate professor of music at Oklahoma City University.
Musical Works To Be Performed:
Camille Saint-Saëns, Caprice on Danish and Russian Airs for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet and Piano, op. 79. Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) was a French Romantic composer, pianist and organist. Like Mozart and Mendelssohn, he was a true child prodigy. Inspired by Liszt, Wagner and Berlioz, he was a prolific composer in every musical genre. His musical philosophy was to create “elegant lines, harmonious colors and a beautiful succession of chords.” In addition to his musical talents, Saint-Saëns was interested in advanced mathematics, languages, physics, astronomy, archeology and geology, and he wrote plays and books on many subjects. He composed this Caprice in 1887 for a concert tour to St. Petersburg, Russia, where he was to play for Tsar Alexander III’s empress, who was the daughter of the King of Denmark. The work combines Danish and Russian themes with contrasting piano and woodwind passages. Saint-Saëns died at age 86 in Algeria, playing and conducting until the very end of his life.
Kris Maloy, Flourish: A Concertino in Molto Perpetuo for Clarinet and Piano. Dr. Kris Maloy is adjunct professor of composition and saxophone and director of jazz studies at Oklahoma City University. He has composed for orchestra, wind ensemble, chamber orchestra, chamber ensemble and solo instruments. During its 2007-08 Season, Brightmusic commissioned him to compose a new work entitled Quartet in Four Actions for Clarinet, Violin, Cello and Piano, which received its world premiere at Brightmusic’s January 22, 2008 concert. Tonight’s work was commissioned by our Co-Artistic Directors Chad Burrow and Amy I-Lin Cheng (known as “Duo Clarion” when they perform in two-person ensemble). We are delighted that Chad and Amy have chosen a Brightmusic concert to premiere this new work.
Lee Hoiby, Four Selected Art Songs. Hoiby is a living American composer, born in 1926. He studied piano at Cornell and Mills College and was about to embark on a career as a concert pianist when he received a scholarship to study composition at the Curtis Institute of Music. He has composed operas, choral music, chamber music, solo piano works and settings of poetry for voice and instrumental accompaniment (referred to as “Lieder” in German and “art songs” in English). His operas have included literary settings from Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” and “Romeo and Juliet” to Tennessee Williams’ “Summer and Smoke.” This evening’s concert will feature four of Hoiby’s art songs: Jabberwocky (Lewis Carroll), In the Wind of the Wand (John Fandel), What If … (Samuel Taylor Coleridge) and Be not Afeard (William Shakespeare). See www.leehoiby.com.
Felix Mendelssohn, Concert Piece for Clarinet, Bassoon and Piano No. 2 in D minor, op. 114. Mendelssohn (1809-1847) was a German Romantic musician of many talents. He sang; played the violin, piano and organ; conducted; and composed. He came from a wealthy German family and was educated privately. By age 12, he was an experienced composer. From 1833-35 he was the music director in Dusseldorf, In 1835 he became the music director in Leipzig where he conducted the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. His compositional style was conservative by Romantic standards, employing classical forms and emphasizing balance, proportionality and craftsmanship. He composed this three-movement work in 1832 for composer Heinrich Joseph Baermann and his son Carl; its first performance was a private performance with the Baermanns. The senior Baermann was responsible for its orchestration.
Ferenc Farkas, Antique Dances for Wind Quintet: Farkas (1905-2000) was a Hungarian composer. For many years, he served as professor of composition at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest. He wrote more than 700 works, primarily in the Hungarian and Italian musical traditions. The Antique Dances were based on 17th Century Hungarian folk dances. By applying early Baroque harmony and counterpoint to these rondos, Farkas sought to replicate provincial Hungarian Baroque folk music. See www.ferencfarkas.org.
Francis Poulenc, Sextet for Piano and Wind Instruments: Poulenc (1899-1963) was born to a wealthy French family, which afforded him the private study of piano and composition. Initially intrigued by the music of Debussy, Ravel, Schoenberg, Stravinsky and Bartók, he became a member of the Les Six group which stressed lack of pretension, nostalgia and overt sentimentalism in their music. He believed that the French, like the Germans and Russians, could “write profound music” but French music was “leavened with that lightness of spirit without which life would be unendurable.” He composed this Sextet in 1932, revised it in 1939 and first performed it in 1940. It is one of his most popular works, and it certainly meets Poulenc’s own standards of emotional depth and French wit.
