… would you still choose oboe? (For you oboe players out there, that is.)
Oboe was Harvey-Reed’s original instrument although she admits she would have preferred playing the flute.
I read that here, and I just wondered if others feel this way as well. Flute would never be the instrument I would name. Cello possibly. But honestly, as frustrating as I am with reeds, I am still glad I play oboe and English horn.
Stark Insider has an article. up as well as the following video:
Opera Idol from Stark Insider on Vimeo.
Opera is the greatest art form created by the human mind,” Lotfi Mansouri, a judge and former general director of the San Francisco Opera tells Loni Kao Stark. “And you know why? Because it’s a composite art form. Everything is in it. It’s not just the music, it’s the stage, it’s the sets, the costumes. Dance. Lighting. Anything you want, it’s in opera.”
May 21, 7pm
California Theatre, 345 South First Street, San Jose
Tickets; $100 ($50 tax deductible) for premium seating; $50 ($25 tax-deductible) for reserved orchestra seating.
I’ll be there tomorrow night at 7:00 to hear the 10 finalists. SO cool, too, to see the number of OSJ current and former artists in residence are in the finals!!! Jouvanca Jean-Baptiste, Rebecca Davis, Christopher Bengochea, Jasmina Halimic & Krassen Karagiozov … congratulations!
And yeah, Jouvanca, I drive a Prius! Does that make ME a Prius? Hmmm. Maybe so. 😉
(Opera San José link.)
Here is the Catalan folk oboe … and it appears that they like to do contemporary music on these! I had to put a few videos up … I just couldn’t resist.
It’s not just about music, by the way … we’re talking theater, ballet and more!
We don’t have nearly enough votes to pull us through at this point. Spread the word. Tell your family, friends, colleagues … heck, tell the grocery store clerk and the person who makes your lattés!
And thank you, thank you, thank you to those of you who have voted. It is greatly appreciated!
All you have to do is learn how to listen. If you listen to the music, it will tell you what it’s trying to do. If you try and interfere with it in some way, if you come with some theory about how it goes, then you’re in for trouble. You just have to allow the music to flow. So if you can set it off right at the beginning, then you’ve got nothing more to do.
-Sir Colin Davis
Howarth, with the help of Christopher Redgate, has a redesigned oboe. Check it out!
Here’s Mr. Redgate playing “The Sting of the Bee” (a “Transcendental improvised study”):
IM PLAYING THE OBOE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(This young girl looks to be in middle school, if not younger. C’mon parents, teach your kids how to hide their Facebook pages from those of us who aren’t her “friends” at least! I love her excitement though.)
Tocatta and Fugue in d minor, BWV 565
Playing name that tune out the window with the oboe player down the hall…
