Notebook

I recently returned from Panamá City where I was teaching and performing as part of the 4th annual Double Reed Festival of Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean. This was my second time at the festival having participated in last year’s event. The festival is a true labor of love for the many people involved. It is a five day event that consists of master classes, reed making workshops, recitals and a gala concert at the end with bassoon and oboe soloists performing with the National Symphony of Panamá. This year’s teachers were oboists Alex Klein and Doris DeLoach, myself and repairman Jorge Valenzuela. Alex Klein has served as the festival’s main oboe teacher each of the four years of the festival and his unending energy is inspiring and infectious. It was wonderful to meet maestra DeLoach and get to work with her for the first time. Juan Castillo, the event’s founder again worked tirelessly to give the bassoon and oboe students of Latin American this incredible opportunity. Some photos here of this and last year’s festival.

Program of the gala concert:

• Devin Tiboche, oboe; Arturo Rey Sanchez, violin: Concerto for Oboe and Violin of J.S. Bach
• James Hansen: Concerto in a minor for Bassoon and Orchestra of A. Vivaldi
• Doris DeLoach: Concerto for Oboe and Strings of De Domenico Cimarosa
• Juan Castillo: Concerto for Oboe and Strings in d minor of J.S. Bach
• Saxton Rose: Ciranda para fagot y orquesta de cuerdas of H. Villa-Lobos
• Alex Klein: Concerto for Oboe and Strings in c minor of A. Vivaldi

From May 28 to June 16, 2007 I taught and performed at the Harlaxton International Chamber Music Festival in Lincolnshire, England. It was a wonderful festival with great faculty and some really talented students. As this was its inaugural year, there were some little bumps along the way, but by all accounts was an enormous success.

The festival’s home is Harlaxton Manor, a 19th century mansion located three miles from Grantham, England and 110 miles North of London. Grantham, home of Sir Isaac Newton is near Nottingham and Lincoln. It’s really the perfect venue for a music festival such as this one as it has beautiful performance facilities as well as housing accommodations. More photos of the manor

The festival is the collective effort of a consortium of schools; the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music, Converse College and Samford University. Enrollment for next year is open to college and graduating high school students from anywhere in the world. Students have fantastic performance opportunities of chamber and solo repertoire at a variety of venues in addition to Harlaxton Manor including Lincoln Cathedral, Belvoir Castle and St. Martin in the Fields of London.

If you are interested or know of a motivated college student or gifted high school graduate who would be interested in participating in the festival, see http://www.converse.edu/harlaxton/ or contact me directly.

I traveled last week to Panamá City to perform as soloist with the Panamá Symphony Orchestra as part of the Third Annual Double Reed Festival of Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean. The festival is hosted by Juan Castillo, principal oboist of the Panamá Symphony Orchestra and included the participation of oboist Alex Klein and bassoonist Fabio Cury. There were participants from México, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panamá, Columbia, Brasil, Venezuela, the U.S. and Puerto Rico. The festival included master classes given by Klein, Cury and myself and a gala concert at the Teatro Nacional de Panamá with the orchestra. Photos

Program of the concert:

• Arrangement of Monteverdi’s Misa Illo Tempore for Double Reed Ensemble and Choir
• Saxton Rose: Concerto in d minor for Bassoon and Orchestra of A. Vivaldi
• Juan Castillo: Tres piezas de Astor Piazolla para oboe y orquesta de cuerdas
• Fabio Cury: Concierto de Francisco Migone para fagot y orquesta
• Alex Klein: Introduction and Variations for Oboe and Orchestra, Op. 102 of Hummel

Camerata Caribe, a faculty chamber ensemble at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music performed and taught as part of a 3-day residency at the Petrie School of Music at Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina April 10th - 12th. The recital included works by Manuel G. Tavárez, Jack Delano, Roberto Milano, José Rodríquez Alvira, W. A. Mozart, Astor Piazzolla and Rafael Hernández and arrangements by ensemble members Benito Díaz and David Bourns. The Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music and the Petrie School of Music at Converse College launch a 3-year exchange program this year with students and faculty at both institutions participating in the program.

Camerata Caribe was founded in 1982 as a quintet in residence at the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico. Its current members are David Bourns, oboe; Kathleen Jones, clarinet; Benito Díaz, horn; Saxton Rose, bassoon; and Diana Figueroa, piano. In addition to teaching at the conservatory, the wind professors are also the principals of their sections in the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra. They have all apperared as solosits with the PRSO and have played recitals and given master classes on and off the island of Puerto Rico.

I leave with the orchestra August 31st for a series of concerts in La Coruña, Spain. The first concert will be with G. Figueroa at El Palacio Opera del la Coruña on Saturday, September 3rd. The program, tentative as always is Rosenkavalier Suite by R. Strauss, Fandangos by Roberto Sierra and Beethoven’s 7th Symphony. Thursday the 8th we begin rehearsals with L. F. Malheiro of the opera La Traviata with performances on the 10th, 12th, 13th and 15th.

La Coruña lies at the extreme north west of Spain and forms part of the autonomous community of Galicia. Pablo Picasso lived in La Coruña for four years. Directly on the Atlantic it has beaches, a giant open fish market each morning. It should be fun.

Performance at the 2005 International Double Reed Conference in Austin, TX. Oboist Carla Parodi and I performed the Duet for Oboe and Bassoon by H. Villa-Lobos and the Fantasia Concertante on themes from Italian in Algiers for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano by E. Jancourt. A video of the performance can be found here.