Jelena Dirks with Friends

Amy Beach: Invocation for Oboe and Piano arr. by Jelena Dirks

G. Winston Cassler: Turtle Dove for Oboe and Piano arr. by Daniel Kallman

Ruth Gipps: The Piper of Dreams for solo oboe

Edvard Grieg: Violin Sonata No. 3 in C minor. Op. 45
I. Allegro molto ed appassionato
II. Allegretto espressivo alla Romanza - Allegro molto - Tempo I.
III. Allegro animato

Selections from Porgy and Bess, arr. for Violin and Piano by Jascha Heifetz 
It Ain’t Necessarily So

Madeline Dring: Trio for Bassoon, Oboe and Piano 
I. Dramatico: Allegro moderato e deciso
II. Dialogues
III. Allegro con brio

Date: February 28th, 2023
​Time: 7:30pm
Location: Steinway Piano Gallery - St. Louis
Address: 12033 Dorsett Road, Maryland Heights, MO 63043
Admission: Free

Concert Artists

Jelena Dirks / Oboe

Ann Fink / Violin

Brian Woods / Piano

Andrew Cuneo / Bassoon

Amy Beach: Invocation for Oboe and Piano arr. by Jelena Dirks
Amy Beach was born in 1867 in Henniker, New Hampshire. Beach was born into an educated
and talented family. Her father co-founded Bates College and her mother was a talented pianist
and singer. It wasn’t a surprise that Beach showed an inclination for music, but her ability to
sing, harmonize, read music, and compose all by the age of four was astonishing. However,
instead of sending her to a European conservatory, her parents chose to send her to local
teachers. Beach was a gifted student and went on to have quite a bit of early success as a
piano soloist, and although she had some composition lessons, she learned music theory and
composition by studying on her own. Beach became the first female American to compose and
publish a symphony. Her Gaelic Symphony was successfully premiered by the Boston
Symphony Orchestra in 1896. Beach had a long and eminent career as both a pianist and
composer. Her library of works is extensive and includes solo piano works, chamber music,
orchestral works, and choral works. In 1944 Beach died of heart disease while residing in New
York City.

Invocation was originally written for violin and piano or organ with cello obbligato. It was
published in 1904 during the latter years of her marriage to Dr. Henry Beach. During her
marriage (from 1885-1910) Amy took her duties as an upper class wife very seriously. She
agreed to stop teaching piano lessons and to cut back on performing. However this gave her
ample time to continue her studies of composition and some of her earliest successes as a
composer were during these years.


G. Winston Cassler: Turtle Dove for Oboe and Piano arr. by Daniel Kallman
G. Winston Cassler lived from 1906 until 1990. Cassler studied at Oberlin College in Ohio and
had a successful career as a composer of hymns. He was a professor at St. Olaf College in
Northfield, Minnesota.


Ruth Gipps: The Piper of Dreams for solo oboe
Ruth Gipps was born in Bexhill, England in 1921. Although her father was a businessman he
was also a trained violinist. Her mother was a piano teacher and her two older siblings were
also musicians. Gipps showed immense talent for composing and performing at a young age.
When she was 17 she began studies at the Royal College of Music where she studied oboe,
piano, and composition. Among her teachers was the famous British composer, Ralph Vaughan
Williams. At the age of 26 she became the youngest British woman to be awarded a doctorate
in music for her work, The Cat. When Gipps was 33, a shoulder injury stalled her performance
career and she turned solely to composing. Despite dealing with discrimination in the male
dominated world of composition she continued writing music for the rest of her life. In 1955 she
founded the London Repertoire Orchestra which was a training orchestra for young
professionals. She also founded the Chanticleer Orchestra which featured a living composer on
each of its programs. She held faculty positions at Trinity College of London, the Royal College
of Music, and the Kingston Polytechnic at Gypsy Hill. In 1967, she was appointed chairwoman
of the Composers’ Guild of Great Britain. Gipps died in 1999 in Sussex of cancer and a stroke.
The Piper of Dreams was written in 1941 for oboist Marion Brough. The piece is based on a
painting of the same title by Estella Canziani.


Madeline Dring: Trio for Bassoon, Oboe and Piano 
Madeleine Dring was an English composer born in north London. She lived from 1923 until
1977. When Dring was ten years old, she was offered scholarships on violin and piano to attend
the pre-college department of the Royal College of Music. She stayed at the Royal College to
do college level studies and had a well rounded eduction in the performing arts. She took piano
lessons (Dring quit violin lessons when her instructor died), composition lessons, and also
studied drama, mime, and singing. Throughout her career Dring would write incidental music for
theater and television as well as instrumental music, vocal music, a ballet, and even an opera
called Cupboard Love.

In 1947 Dring married Roger Lord. He was principal oboist of the London Symphony Orchestra
for over 30 years. She wrote many pieces for her husband including the Trio for flute, oboe, and
piano in 1968. It was premiered by Andre Previn, flutist Peter Lloyd, and Roger Lord. Dring
loved the music of Francis Poulenc and his influence on her work can be heard throughout her
trio.


Edvard Grieg: Violin Sonata No. 3 in C minor. Op. 45 
Edvard Grieg was born in Bergen, Norway in 1843. His heritage links him to Scotland where his
ancestors belonged to the Scottish clan, Clan Gregor. Grieg’s father was a merchant and
government employee of Bergen and his mother was a piano teacher. Grieg took lessons with
his mother until he was 15 at which point he started at the Leipzig Conservatory. Sadly, when he
was about 17 years old he was sick with both pleurisy and tuberculosis. He would suffer from
lung damage and a spinal deformity for the rest of his life. However, only a year after his
illnesses he made his debut as a concert pianist in Sweden. Shortly thereafter he would make
his debut in Bergen. A few years later in 1867, Grieg would marry his first cousin. They had one
daughter together that died of meningitis about a year after she was born. During the next 40
years of his life Grieg had a successful career as both a pianist and a composer. He lived in
Copenhagen for a time and traveled extensively throughout Europe for various composition
premiers and piano performances. He was awarded honorary doctorates from the University of
Cambridge in 1894 and the University of Oxford in 1906. Grieg passed away in 1907 from heart
failure after suffering from an extended period of illness. His funeral was held in Bergen and
30,000-40,000 people attended!

Grieg composed his third violin sonata late in life, in 1886. He spent several months working on
the composition and would consider it among his favorites. Grieg premiered the work himself
along with violinist Adolph Brodsky in Leipzig, Germany. The use of Norwegian folk tunes can
be heard throughout.


Selections from Porgy and Bess, arr. for Violin and Piano by Jascha Heifetz 
Jascha Heifetz was born in Vilnius, Lithuania (in what was then still part of the Russian Empire)
in 1901. Heifetz was a child prodigy on the violin. By age 7 he was performing Mendelssohn’s
Violin Concerto, and in 1910 started studies at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. Heifetz
continued performing all over Europe, but in 1917 his family immigrated to San Francisco. Soon
after arriving in the U.S., Heifetz performed a recital at Carnegie Hall. From that point on
Heifetz’s career as a concert violinist exploded. To this day he is known as one of the greatest
violinists of all time. Heifetz transcribed selections from Gershwin’s opera Porgy and Bess for
violin and piano in 1947.

George Gershwin was born Jacob Gershwine in 1898. Gershwin is one of the most famous
American composers of all time. His works include orchestral compositions such as American in
Paris, operas such as Porgy and Bess, and jazz standards such as Embraceable You and I Got
Rhythm. Sadly, Gershwin died at the age of 38 from a malignant brain tumor.