Program

This concert is proudly sponsored by Ariel Premium Supply, Inc., and is an exclusive private event dedicated to the residents of Mason Pointe Independent Living.​
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Claude Debussy: En bateau (Arr. for Clarinet Trio by Robert Walker)

Jacques Ibert: Cinq pièces en trio for Oboe, Clarinet, and Bassoon
I. Allegro vivo
II. Andantino
III. Allegro assai  
IV. Andante 
V. Allegro quasi marziale

Ludwig van Beethoven: Trio in B-flat major, Op. 11  (Arr. for Clarinet and Bass Clarinet)
III. Theme and Variations (Pria ch’io l’impegno: Allegretto)

György Ligeti: Six Bagatelles for Woodwind Quintet
I. Allegro con spirito
II. Rubato. Lamentoso
III. Allegro grazioso
IV. Presto ruvido
V. Adagio. Mesto -- Belá Bartók in memoriam
VI. Molto vivace. Capriccioso

Michael Curtis: Pink Flamingo Tango for clarinet and bass clarinet 

Valarie Coleman: Tzigane

Regrettably, the scheduled pianist was compelled to withdraw from the performance at the eleventh hour due to an unforeseen hand injury, necessitating a revision of the program.

Date: September 7, 2023.
​Time: 2:30pm
Location: Mason Pointe Independent Living Community Center
Address: 13190 S Outer Forty Rd, Town and Country, MO 63017

Concert Artists

Ann Choomack / Flute

Julia Paine / Bassoon

Tod Bowermaster / Horn

Robert Walker / Clarinet

Rachel Siegel / Clarinet

Jelena Dirks / Oboe

Tzuying Huang / Bass Clarinet

Jacques Ibert: Cinq pièces en trio for Oboe, Clarinet, and Bassoon
French composer Jacques Ibert was born in Paris in 1890 and lived until the age of 72. Ibert studied violin and piano from a young age and began composition studies at the Paris Conservatory in 1910. After serving as a naval officer in World War 1, Ibert resumed his musical studies and won the Prix de Rome, Paris Conservatory’s top prize. Ibert’s composition career blossomed. He wrote pieces in a variety of genres including operas, ballets, piano, film scores, orchestral and choral works, and chamber music. His career was interrupted again during World War Two when the French government banned Ibert’s music. He temporarily relocated to Switzerland. After the war he was invited back by General de Gaulle and was promoted to director of the Paris Opera. 
Ibert disliked having his works defined by any one musical style, although elements of Impressionism and Classicism had the most obvious influence on his compositional choices. 

Cinq Pieces en Trio or Five Pieces for Trio was written in 1935 for oboe, clarinet, and bassoon. The work is very classical in style and remains true to the character of much of Ibert’s music with very short, playful, lighthearted movements.

Jacques Ibert: Histoires for solo piano
Histoires (Stories) for solo piano was written between 1920 and 1921. The work is a perfect example of music composed in the French Impressionistic style. To this day, the composition is an important piece in the French pedagogical repertoire.  

György Ligeti: Musica Ricercata for solo Piano
Ligeti was born into a Hungarian Jewish family in Transylvania, Romania in 1923. His early music studies began in 1941, at the Gheorghe Dima National Music Academy, an educational institution located in Romania. However, they were interrupted in 1944, when Ligeti was sent to a forced labor brigade. During the Holocaust his brother and parents were sent to concentration camps. His mother was the only survivor. 

In 1949, Ligeti graduated from the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. With the help of Zoltan Kodaly he became the professor of harmony, counterpoint, and musical analysis in 1950. Ligeti remained at the Franz Liszt Academy until 1956, when he fled the country during the Hungarian Revolution. He would not return for 14 years. Between the years of 1961-1989, Ligeti maintained various positions as a composition professor including Stanford University and Hamburg University of Music and Theatre. He died in Vienna in 2006 at the age of 83.

Ligeti’s composition style evolved over the course of his life. He often composed for chorus early in his career. He was greatly inspired and influenced by the musical style Bela Bartok, and incorporated many Transylvanian folk songs into his works. 
Ligeti experimented with electronic music and developed a compositional practice called micropolyphony in which the sounds of acoustic instruments resemble those of electronic sounds by way of moving chord clusters. 

György Ligeti: Six Bagatelles for Woodwind Quintet 
Ligeti’s work Six Bagatelles for Woodwind Quintet is based on his piano cycle Musica Ricercata (1953), which Ligeti claims to have written while feeling that all of the music he knew and loved was irrelevant. The bagatelles are arrangements of six of the movements of Musica Ricercata. When they were premiered in 1956, all but the last movement was performed because it was censored by the Soviet government. 

Valarie Coleman: Tzigane
​ Valerie Coleman is an American composer and flutist born in Louisville, Kentucky. She grew up in the same neighborhood as Muhammad Ali! Coleman was interested in music from a young age. She composed for fun, and by the age of fourteen had already written three symphonies. She was also taking flute lessons and playing in youth orchestra. Coleman studied both composition and flute at Boston Conservatory and earned a graduate degree in composition from Mannes College of Music. 

​Valerie Coleman was the first African American woman to have her composition, Umoja, Anthem for Unity premiered by the Philadelphia orchestra. She is also the founder of Imani Winds, a wind quintet based in New York City. Tzigane was written in 2011 and inspired by Ravel’s Tzigane for solo violin. It shares the same virtuosic nature as Tzigane by Ravel but with a much jazzier vibe.