This year two interesting double-reed instruments – the oboe and the bassoon – will join the familiar core of wonderful strings and our Schimmel grand piano on stage in the Town Hall. We are welcoming Robert Orr, Principal Oboe of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Todd Gibson-Cornish, the New Zealand-born Principal Bassoon of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
Robert Orr studied at the Guildhall School of Music and played in London as a free-lance musician before returning to New Zealand in 1995 to become Principal Cor Anglais for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. As well as his work with the Orchestra he is an active soloist and chamber musician and an artist-teacher at the New Zealand School of Music.
Todd Gibson-Cornish graduated from the Royal College of Music with many high honours. In his last year of study he worked with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic as guest Principal Bassoon. This led to a successful audition as Principal Bassoon for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, a hotly-contested position that he won at the age of just 21 in 2016.
So what are double-reed instruments? There are three in this woodwind group: the oboe, bassoon and English horn or cor anglais. The two that we are going to hear have some things in common, while markedly different in size and structure: both are made of wood – the bassoon of hard maple from North America, the oboe of grenadilla from Africa – both have a conical bore and their distinctive sounds are made as air is blown through two finely crafted, tightly bound pieces of reed. These reeds, made from culms of a tall perennial grass called Arundo donax, are usually made by the players themselves – a highly specialized and essential part of their job.
The names and origins of these instruments are interesting. The oboe got its name from the French ‘haut bois’ meaning high [sounding] wood and the name of the bassoon refers to its range – it’s the bass voice of the woodwind family. They have common ancestors: the aulos of ancient Greece and the shawm, widely used in the courts of medieval Europe from the 12th century. The oboe we see today emerged around the 17th century in France. The present construction of the bassoon is thought to have been developed in France by 1636.
There’s a wide variety of virtuosic masterworks and intriguing new music for the oboe and bassoon in our Festival. You’ll learn a lot about these fascinating instruments and their superb players. Todd Gibson-Cornish opens the first Festival concert with a Romance for bassoon by Elgar. There are two trios – by Françaix and Poulenc – for oboe, bassoon and piano, Mozart’s beloved Oboe Quartet, Two Rhapsodies for Oboe, Viola and Piano by Loeffler, a colourful work for bassoon and string quartet by the famous jazz trumpeter and composer, Wynton Marsalis, and the New Zealand premier of Dunedin composer Anthony Ritchie’s Quintet for bassoon and string quartet, a gift to the Festival from the composer.
Visit the Festival website – www.martinboroughmusicfestival.co.nz – to see the full range of programmes on offer on 22-24 September. Earlybird tickets for mailing list subscribers from 1 June and public sales from 1 July. Join the mailing list via the website.
