… is why did he choose a clarinetist to have the affair with? Silly oboist.
Anyway, there’s a bit of language and sexual stuff in this article, but still, it includes an oboe player. So there you go.
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I just read about this play:
The Oboe Player
“True lovers can look at each other at dawn’s light and know what the other is thinking. It’s not physical – it’s mystical.” So says one of the characters in the World Premiere of Richard Lay’s The Oboe Player, a romantic-drama about two very different people who have some very different ideas about the role love will play in their lives. The shy and withdrawn Oboe-playing Broderick (an Englishman, known as “Brooder” to his friends) lives a quiet and ordered existence until a vicarious actress named Blossom crosses his path. A woman who lives in the moment, throwing caution to the winds and recklessly jumping from one situation (and love affair) to another, she sweeps Brooder off his feet and into a whirlwind romance. But where Brooder, who’s still mourning the death of his mother, sees the actress as his one true love, Blossom is having too much fun to think about the future. And when her career takes off, she seemingly forgets all about him, despite his desperate attempts to get them back together. Presented by the Sage Theatre Company and directed by Simcha Borenstein.
(I read about it here.)
A play about an oboe player!? Man, I’d love to see this. 🙂
I read a review that wasn’t entirely positive that included this:
Brooder, a shy, inept oboe player, falls for Blossom, a worldly, vivacious American actress, after his friend bills him as the “second-best oboe player in Britain.” She entertains the flirtation with him mostly as a trivial amusement, but he?s fallen deeply in love and can?t sever the attachment as easily as she would like. He?s inexperienced with women, and doesn?t understand that she was merely playing with him. Turns out she has more up her sleeve than anyone originally thought.
Now doesn’t that sound like fun?
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Parry, who began getting acquainted with the orchestra’s musicians last month when he performed with the San Diego Symphony Summer Pops, said he is “thrilled to have the job.”
Nevertheless, he will continue auditioning for other orchestras in case something better comes up.
And so it goes. Parry comes to the San Diego Symphony from the New World Symphony in Florida. So of course that will open up. And, as he clearly states, he’ll keep “auditioning up” as young players love to do.
I love watching dominos fall. It’s fun. (But I sure don’t keep up with all the changes on my double reed players pages.)
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Richard Scheinin attended Sunday’s opera performance as well as Saturday’s. We have two casts, so this is a good thing to do, especially with all the new singers. Another positive review.
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It looks like the UK airline restrictions are being lightened a bit, and musicians will be back in business.
Norman Lebrecht has something to say about the issue.
Me? I never have had to deal with the whole issue. But I can tell you I’d do carry-on with the oboe or I wouldn’t take it. Period.
In Other News
More than a quarter of classical music fans have tried cannabis, says a study from the University of Leicester.
Well, I can honestly say that I am not part of that “more than a quarter”. Never did the stuff. Really. Never really wanted to. So there you go. But a number of my colleauges used to ask to use some of my cigarette paper (I used to use cigarette paper for “water issues” on the oboe). I have moved from cigarette paper to end papers and no one ever asks to use them.
I remember a photographer for the San Jose Symphony (RIP) being shocked to see some classical musicians doing a little “secret smoking” at a party. He seemed to think all classical musicians were upright, uptight, and all that jazz. Ain’t necessarily so.
Fans of musicals come out as the most mild-mannered group, with the lowest level of drug-taking and criminal acts.
They also drink less regularly than other music fans, and are among the most likely to do charity work.
Hmmm. I think they need to break musical theatre folk into two groups: those that go to the old-school sort and those that only like the new musicals. But that’s just me.
Anyway, if you want to know where I’m gettng this information, go here.
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GOUNOD’S Roméo et Juliette wins by default. While it’s a great opera, the craving for one on that subject never goes away. (The real winners aren’t operas: see Berlioz, Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev.) Still, the Gounod has its moments, and Opera San José’s new production also debuts its new lineup of company resident artists—in two casts. On Sunday afternoon, they included TalÌse Trevigne (Juliette), Isaac Hurtado (Romeo) and Daniel Cilli (Mercutio) plus retuning company resident Carlos Aguilar (Frère Laurent). Guest artists who etched an imposing presence were Andrew Park (Tybalt), Sonia Gariaeff (Stephano) and Silas Elash (Duke of Verona.) The veteran maestro Anthony Quartuccio replaced conductor George Cleve, home recovering from an exhausting summer schedule.
For some reason I find this introduction to the Metro review just a bit confusing. But that’s probably just me. I’m easily confused!
The review is somewhat positive, somewhat not.
There’s no mention of the orchestra or conductor, other than noting the conductor switch. It’s not uncommon to have the orchestra get little or no mention; we aren’t the center of attention in an opera. But we always enjoy seeing some little mention. When it’s positive, that is. It makes our little hearts happy. Ah well. That’s life in the opera pit!
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