MUSIC, MONEY, SUCCESS & FAILURE - Part Two - who were your teachers and what did they teach you?

MUSIC, MONEY, SUCCESS & FAILURE  - Things I Keep Learning  From My Amazing Yet Weird Career

 Part Two - who were your teachers and what did they teach you?

We cite their accomplishments as if they were somehow our own and we often have a childlike parallelism, something along the lines of  “if my teacher plays in an orchestra, then I can too.”

Whatever the catalyst, their inspiration will be remembered in one incident or sensation. Your teachers are found everywhere, throughout your life.  Not all of them teach us good things.

MUSIC, MONEY, SUCCESS & FAILURE - Part One

MUSIC, MONEY, SUCCESS and FAILURE  - Things I Keep Learning  From My Amazing Yet Weird Career

Part One -  how long did it take you to learn that concerto?

After my most recent concerto concert on October 11, 2017, a bright-eyed student asked me how long it took me to learn the challenging and beautiful Apollo X concerto for bassoon, strings and percussion, written for me by Paul Frehner.

Second performance of Apollo X

photo by Bo Huang photography

OUT OF THIS WORLD - new music

Last Wednesday night, October 11, 2017, I played four new works for bassoon and strings and percussion with my Out of This World Orchestra.   Two of the works were written for me and I am connected to all of the composers. 

The intense main concerto, Apollo X, composed by Paul Frehner for me and Orchestra London in 2013, has three movements inspired by various popular songs from the 1960s and 1970s that were, in turn, inspired by the Apollo space program and the race to put a man on the moon. Extended virtuosic passages of rhythmic precision and complexity, contrasted with some harmonics and Berio trills along with mysterious floating textures from the strings and percussion.  It is a very absorbing piece to play and it is surprising and beautiful to hear.