THE FRIENDS OF MUSIC
Wednesday, October 29, 2025 at 7:30 pm
Hosted By
Laurel Lake Retirement Community
200 Laurel Lake Drive, Hudson, Ohio
Danse Macabre (Arr. Elderkin) Camille Saint-Saens
(1835-1921)
Flying Theme (Arr. Elderkin) John Williams
from E.T. (The Extra-Terrestrial) (b. 1932)
Jurassic Park (Arr. Elderkin) John Williams
Funeral March of a Marionette (Arr. Kendrick) Charles Gunod
(1818-1893)
“For Good” from Wicked (Arr. Stratton) Stephen Schwartz
(b. 1948)
Goblin March Ian Deterling
(b. 1984)
In the Hall of the Mountain King (Arr. Schottstadt) Edvard Grieg
(1843-1907)
BassoonaRoo, directed by Cynthia Cioffari
* * * * *
The University of Akron BassoonaRoo is comprised of both undergraduate and graduate students who love to play the bassoon. The ensemble performs regularly on campus each semester at concerts such as Hallowinds, the annual School of Music Collage Concert, and Woodwind Night. They have performed off campus at the Akron Public Library, the Medina Public Library, the Akron Art Museum, the Ohio Music Educators Association Conference, and at several assisted living facilities in the area. Members are: Jenni Maisel, Julia Stratton, William Huber, Veronica Yahner, Savannah Smith, Alex York, Breanna Sasanecki, Joshua Williams, Giada Ferrell, Alexander Morris, bassoon.
Cynthia Cioffari teaches bassoon and coaches chamber music at The University of Akron. She is also Chair of the Woodwind and Brass areas. Since 1993, she has been the Contrabassoonist/Section Bassoonist with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, and has also performed with the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, Toledo Symphony, ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, West Virginia Symphony, and others. She holds degrees from the University of Michigan and Bowling Green State University.
“All Ballades”
Aurora Werks: Jennifer Biber, flute, Kristen Duffy, flute, Ed Wiles, piano
Ballade du coeur qui a tant battu, 2014 Louis Sauter
(b. 1955)
Ballade á Monsieur Paul Taffanel Albert Périlhou
Kristen Duffy, flute, Ed Wiles, piano (1846-1936)
Ballade für Flöte mit Klavierbegleitung, Op. 288 Carl Reinecke
Jennifer Biber, flute, Ed Wiles, piano (1824-1910)
Ballade for Flute, Cornet, and Piano, ©1882 Rudolph Speil
Jennifer Biber, Alto Flute (in lieu of cornet or Bb horn or cello) (1850-1925)
Ballade for Alto Flute, Bass Flute, and Piano Daniel Dorff
Jennifer Biber, alto flute, Kristen Duffy, bass flute (b. 1956)
AURORA STREET WERKS
Born out of musical friendship, the Aurora Street Werks is a chamber music ensemble that explores the delights of music in a variety of instrumental combinations. The ensemble is in residence for the SAGE Academy at Christ Church Episcopal performing for the popular lecture-recital series Moments in Music. Members enjoy the relationships and experiences that playing music in combination with others creates.
JENNIFER BIBER, flute/piccolo showed a love of music at an early age by playing piano and singing. She began playing flute in fifth grade in the Nordonia bands. She studied flute and piccolo with Mary Kay Ferguson in high school. In addition to her roles in the Nordonia bands, she played with the Akron Youth Symphony and the Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony as well as taking a solo role in the music ministry at her church. She continued her music journey at the University of Akron, taking lessons with George Pope, Jane Berkner, and Mary Kay Ferguson graduating with three majors, including a BA in music. Love of music kept Jennifer playing throughout the demands of medical school. In the past few years, she made the choice to spend more time in music and has recently played with the Greater Huntington Symphonic Band, the Western Reserve Community Band, the Cuyahoga Valley Concert Band, the Stow Symphony Orchestra, Flautrageous Flute Choir, and Aurora Street Werks. She works at Akron Children’s Hospital by day and lives in Boston Heights with her fiancé and 3 cats.
KRISTEN DUFFY, flute/piccolo first discovered her love for flute when she was in elementary school. She took that love and started to fine tune it, studying with Dr. Barbara Spect throughout high school, then studying with Lori Akins and earning a degree in music and public relations from Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio. In addition to The Aurora Street Werks, Kristen has performed with the Western Reserve Community Band, Cuyahoga Valley Concert Band, Stow Symphony Orchestra, Fluterageous Flute Choir at The Cleveland Music Settlement, and Upper Sandusky Community Band. She enjoys spending time in her small home garden, and with her husband, Sean, and Border Collie, Penny Lane.
ED WILES is active as a keyboardist, music teacher and conductor. He serves as the Conductor for the Cuyahoga Valley Concert Band and Organist/Choirmaster for St Philip Episcopal Church, Columbus. He performs a regularly scheduled lecture/recital series Moments in Music with Ed Wiles and performs often with the Aurora Street Werks ensemble. Mr. Wiles has served as a conductor for the Chagrin Valley Choral Union, Summit Choral Society, Western Reserve Community Band and Choral Arts Cleveland. He holds a Master of Church Music Degree from Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, a Master of Music Education Degree from VanderCook School of Music, Chicago and Bachelor of Music Education Degree from The Ohio State University. He lives with his wife, Midge Karam and their three cats on the campus of the Western Reserve Academy.
PROGRAM NOTES
Louis Sauter is a French musician, born on 18 September 1955 in Rome, New York. Before his retirement, he also worked as an electrical engineer who researched speech processing and multimedia, before evolving towards management and consulting. A mostly self-taught musician (piano and voice, in addition to composition), he nevertheless benefited from the advice of great masters. He has greatly been influenced by Olivier Messiaen and Ricardo Nillni. He has composed over a hundred works for solo instruments, voice, chamber ensembles and symphonic orchestra. His compositions have been recorded and performed by professional musicians in concert halls as well as by students in music schools around the world. Numerous recordings of Sauter's works have been released. Several albums including his works have won prestigious awards: One Minute, won a double Silver medal at the Global Music Awards 2017. Gimel and Daleth both won double silver medals at the Global Music Awards 2018. Two Minutes won a triple silver medal at the Global Music Awards 2019. Louis won the Spring 2021 Clouzine Best Contemporary Classical Piano Album award for the album Les noces de Chounette. Lamedh won the Clouzine award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album in Fall 2021. Lviv 1 won the Fall 2023 Clouzine Award for Best Classical Recording. Multiple Views from a Window.
A. Périlhou Ballade (Flute and Piano). Written for Flute or Violin accompanied by a Piano, Ballad is a piece by Albert Périlhou (1846-1936), dedicated to Paul Taffanel. This piece is one of the most famous by this author and is often chosen as a contest or a recital work. Composed in 1903, Ballad is a one-movement piece which begins with a slow part and alternates with an Allegro section. This latter is the section of the main theme which demonstrates the range of the flute with expressive runs. The melody of the slow section returns several before closing the work. Born in Daumazan-sur-Arize on 2 April 1846, Albert was the only son of Jean-Justin Périlhou (born 1820 in Laroque-d'Olmes), an organist in Pézenas, and couturière Marie-Jeanne Balbine Carrière (born 1827 in Daumazan-sur-Arize) and received further instruction as an organist under Camille Saint-Saëns at the Niedermeyer school. He became an organist and a piano teacher in Saint-Étienne, and then he became professor of piano at the Conservatoire de Lyon (1883). He later moved to Paris in 1888 as an artistic advisor of Maison Erard, he became organist of Saint-Séverin (1889) at the new instrument rebuilt by John Abbey, and then auditioned for and was granted the position of titular organist of Saint-Eustache in 1905, resigned the following year. In 1910 he was named director of Niedermeyer school. Périlhou was a prolific composer who wrote a large body of music for piano, organ, orchestra and voice. He retired in 1914 to Tain-l'Hermitage, where he died at the age of 90 on 28 August 1936. Probably following the example of his teacher and friend Saint-Saëns, he lived for some time in Algeria. His wife Jeanne Petit (born 4 February 1858 in Sens), who he married on 8 July 1879 in her hometown, passed away on 1 September in Tournon-sur-Rhône in the year following his death. They had a son, Louis. Périlhou and his wife are buried in Peaugres.
C. Reinecke. Ballade (für Flöte mit Klavierbegleitung) Op. 288. The ballad was the last composition by Carl Reinecke (1824-1910) and is also available for flute and orchestra. Masterfully composed, the flute music takes the listener into a deep harmonious atmosphere of musical romanticism Reinecke was born in what is today Hamburg, then under Danish rule. He received his initial musical instruction from his father, (Johann Peter) Rudolf Reinecke (22 November 1795 – 14 August 1883), a music teacher and writer on musical subjects. Carl first devoted himself to violin-playing but later turned his attention to the piano He began to compose at the age of seven, and his first public appearance as a pianist was when he was twelve years old. At the age of 19, he undertook his first concert tour as a pianist in 1843 and settled in Leipzig where he studied under Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann and Franz Liszt. After Leipzig, Reinecke went on tour with Königslöw and Wilhelm Joseph von Wasielewski (Schumann's biographer), in North Germany and Denmark. In 1846, Reinecke was appointed Court Pianist for Christian VIII in Copenhagen. There he remained until 1848, when he resigned and went to Paris. In 1851, Reinecke became a professor at the Cologne Conservatory. Later, he was appointed musical director in Barmen, and became the academic, musical director and conductor of the Singakademie at Breslau.
In 1860, Reinecke became director of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and professor of composition and piano at the Leipzig Conservatory. He led the orchestra until 1895. Reinecke is best known for his flute sonata "Undine", but he is also remembered as one of the most influential and versatile musicians of his time. He served as a teacher for 35 years, until his retirement in 1902. After retirement, Reinecke devoted his time to composition, resulting in almost three hundred published works. During this time, he frequently made concert tours. In 1904 at the age of 80, he made recordings of seven works playing on piano roll for the Welte-Mignon company, making him the earliest-born pianist to have his playing preserved in any format. He subsequently made a further 34 recordings for various piano roll companies. Reinecke died in Leipzig at age 85.
R. Speil. Ballade for Flute, Cornet, and Piano, ©1882. This romantic ballad by Rudolph Speil was so successful that it was arranged for various combinations of instruments. The cornet part is alternately written for Bb horn or cello. We chose alto flute for this concert. Speil was first mentioned in 1874 as taking part in the concerts in Detroit as cellist and flutist. He conducted the opening subscription concert of the Detroit Symphony in December 1887 and then headed this orchestra till Spring 1894. He was also known to conduct other orchestras and bands in Detroit. Around 1896, he moved to Toledo, Ohio where he was part of the Toledo Philharmonic Trio playing from 1898 to 1902.
D. Dorff. Ballade for Alto Flute, Bass Flute, and Piano. Notes by Mr. Dorff: This warmly eccentric piece was the conception of flutist Therese Wacker who has performed many of my flute works and recorded Sonatine de Giverny on CD. In late 2017, Terri asked if I'd be interested in a commission to write her a Ballade to play on Alto Flute along with her IUP colleague Kevin Eisensmith on Flugelhorn, plus Piano. The style should be uniquely fitting for that combination of instruments, and about 6-8 minutes. Although the specifications were so tightly defined, and requiring doublers' instruments that might not balance well, Terri knew my sweet spot for jazz-colored hybrids, and I was intrigued by the opportunity. We enrolled some more flutists and trumpeters into a consortium, and I began work with a lingering question about how to write such a piece that held one mood for so long. *** Surrounding a few middle sections is the main theme, a smoky, steamy love song that was supposed to be called "Rhonda." That's not what it sounds like. A few years earlier I had the pleasure of doing a CD with Ann Crumb -- Broadway star, blues singer, author, lyricist, animal-rights activist, and great inspiration to her father George. Ann influenced George to write Voice of the Whale, many song collections for Ann to sing; and some of the dogs in George's Mundus Canis were her rescues. A later addition to Ann's family was a German Shepherd named Rhonda who had been abused and had a fearful hatred of all men. Somehow Rhonda took to me, and Ann suggested we collaborate on a song for her next CD where I write the music, and she'd follow with the lyrics about Rhonda. The lyrics never happened, but all the 2-note rising or falling thirds in Ballade's main melody were earmarked for Rhonda's name to fit in. Following the November 2019 premiere by Therese Wacker and Kevin Eisensmith, there were many co-commissioners who had planned to perform Ballade on their Spring 2020 concerts, and between overdubbed videos and audience-less Zoom events, eventually these performances began to unfold. As another surprise, in 2020 co-commissioning flutist Wendy Stern asked if I'd be interested in adapting the Flugelhorn part for Bass Flute for her duo-partner Kathleen Nester, and that's the origin of the Alto & Bass Flutes version. It is a much-appreciated honor that both instrumentations were Winners of the NFA's Newly Published Music awards for the Low Flute category in their respective years of publication.
Daniel Dorff (born 1956) is an American composer, clarinetist, and saxophonist who is also Vice President of Publishing at the Theodore Presser Company. His music, performed and recorded globally by orchestras such as the Philadelphia and Minnesota Orchestras, includes compositions and arrangements for artists like Sir James Galway, Keith Emerson, and Lisa Loeb. At age 18, he received First Prize in the Aspen Music Festival's composers' competition. Dorff lectures on music engraving and notation, and his compositions appear with various publishers.
(1835-1921)
Flying Theme (Arr. Elderkin) John Williams
from E.T. (The Extra-Terrestrial) (b. 1932)
Jurassic Park (Arr. Elderkin) John Williams
Funeral March of a Marionette (Arr. Kendrick) Charles Gunod
(1818-1893)
“For Good” from Wicked (Arr. Stratton) Stephen Schwartz
(b. 1948)
Goblin March Ian Deterling
(b. 1984)
In the Hall of the Mountain King (Arr. Schottstadt) Edvard Grieg
(1843-1907)
BassoonaRoo, directed by Cynthia Cioffari
* * * * *
The University of Akron BassoonaRoo is comprised of both undergraduate and graduate students who love to play the bassoon. The ensemble performs regularly on campus each semester at concerts such as Hallowinds, the annual School of Music Collage Concert, and Woodwind Night. They have performed off campus at the Akron Public Library, the Medina Public Library, the Akron Art Museum, the Ohio Music Educators Association Conference, and at several assisted living facilities in the area. Members are: Jenni Maisel, Julia Stratton, William Huber, Veronica Yahner, Savannah Smith, Alex York, Breanna Sasanecki, Joshua Williams, Giada Ferrell, Alexander Morris, bassoon.
Cynthia Cioffari teaches bassoon and coaches chamber music at The University of Akron. She is also Chair of the Woodwind and Brass areas. Since 1993, she has been the Contrabassoonist/Section Bassoonist with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, and has also performed with the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, Toledo Symphony, ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, West Virginia Symphony, and others. She holds degrees from the University of Michigan and Bowling Green State University.
“All Ballades”
Aurora Werks: Jennifer Biber, flute, Kristen Duffy, flute, Ed Wiles, piano
Ballade du coeur qui a tant battu, 2014 Louis Sauter
(b. 1955)
Ballade á Monsieur Paul Taffanel Albert Périlhou
Kristen Duffy, flute, Ed Wiles, piano (1846-1936)
Ballade für Flöte mit Klavierbegleitung, Op. 288 Carl Reinecke
Jennifer Biber, flute, Ed Wiles, piano (1824-1910)
Ballade for Flute, Cornet, and Piano, ©1882 Rudolph Speil
Jennifer Biber, Alto Flute (in lieu of cornet or Bb horn or cello) (1850-1925)
Ballade for Alto Flute, Bass Flute, and Piano Daniel Dorff
Jennifer Biber, alto flute, Kristen Duffy, bass flute (b. 1956)
AURORA STREET WERKS
Born out of musical friendship, the Aurora Street Werks is a chamber music ensemble that explores the delights of music in a variety of instrumental combinations. The ensemble is in residence for the SAGE Academy at Christ Church Episcopal performing for the popular lecture-recital series Moments in Music. Members enjoy the relationships and experiences that playing music in combination with others creates.
JENNIFER BIBER, flute/piccolo showed a love of music at an early age by playing piano and singing. She began playing flute in fifth grade in the Nordonia bands. She studied flute and piccolo with Mary Kay Ferguson in high school. In addition to her roles in the Nordonia bands, she played with the Akron Youth Symphony and the Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony as well as taking a solo role in the music ministry at her church. She continued her music journey at the University of Akron, taking lessons with George Pope, Jane Berkner, and Mary Kay Ferguson graduating with three majors, including a BA in music. Love of music kept Jennifer playing throughout the demands of medical school. In the past few years, she made the choice to spend more time in music and has recently played with the Greater Huntington Symphonic Band, the Western Reserve Community Band, the Cuyahoga Valley Concert Band, the Stow Symphony Orchestra, Flautrageous Flute Choir, and Aurora Street Werks. She works at Akron Children’s Hospital by day and lives in Boston Heights with her fiancé and 3 cats.
KRISTEN DUFFY, flute/piccolo first discovered her love for flute when she was in elementary school. She took that love and started to fine tune it, studying with Dr. Barbara Spect throughout high school, then studying with Lori Akins and earning a degree in music and public relations from Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio. In addition to The Aurora Street Werks, Kristen has performed with the Western Reserve Community Band, Cuyahoga Valley Concert Band, Stow Symphony Orchestra, Fluterageous Flute Choir at The Cleveland Music Settlement, and Upper Sandusky Community Band. She enjoys spending time in her small home garden, and with her husband, Sean, and Border Collie, Penny Lane.
ED WILES is active as a keyboardist, music teacher and conductor. He serves as the Conductor for the Cuyahoga Valley Concert Band and Organist/Choirmaster for St Philip Episcopal Church, Columbus. He performs a regularly scheduled lecture/recital series Moments in Music with Ed Wiles and performs often with the Aurora Street Werks ensemble. Mr. Wiles has served as a conductor for the Chagrin Valley Choral Union, Summit Choral Society, Western Reserve Community Band and Choral Arts Cleveland. He holds a Master of Church Music Degree from Trinity Lutheran Seminary, Columbus, a Master of Music Education Degree from VanderCook School of Music, Chicago and Bachelor of Music Education Degree from The Ohio State University. He lives with his wife, Midge Karam and their three cats on the campus of the Western Reserve Academy.
PROGRAM NOTES
Louis Sauter is a French musician, born on 18 September 1955 in Rome, New York. Before his retirement, he also worked as an electrical engineer who researched speech processing and multimedia, before evolving towards management and consulting. A mostly self-taught musician (piano and voice, in addition to composition), he nevertheless benefited from the advice of great masters. He has greatly been influenced by Olivier Messiaen and Ricardo Nillni. He has composed over a hundred works for solo instruments, voice, chamber ensembles and symphonic orchestra. His compositions have been recorded and performed by professional musicians in concert halls as well as by students in music schools around the world. Numerous recordings of Sauter's works have been released. Several albums including his works have won prestigious awards: One Minute, won a double Silver medal at the Global Music Awards 2017. Gimel and Daleth both won double silver medals at the Global Music Awards 2018. Two Minutes won a triple silver medal at the Global Music Awards 2019. Louis won the Spring 2021 Clouzine Best Contemporary Classical Piano Album award for the album Les noces de Chounette. Lamedh won the Clouzine award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album in Fall 2021. Lviv 1 won the Fall 2023 Clouzine Award for Best Classical Recording. Multiple Views from a Window.
A. Périlhou Ballade (Flute and Piano). Written for Flute or Violin accompanied by a Piano, Ballad is a piece by Albert Périlhou (1846-1936), dedicated to Paul Taffanel. This piece is one of the most famous by this author and is often chosen as a contest or a recital work. Composed in 1903, Ballad is a one-movement piece which begins with a slow part and alternates with an Allegro section. This latter is the section of the main theme which demonstrates the range of the flute with expressive runs. The melody of the slow section returns several before closing the work. Born in Daumazan-sur-Arize on 2 April 1846, Albert was the only son of Jean-Justin Périlhou (born 1820 in Laroque-d'Olmes), an organist in Pézenas, and couturière Marie-Jeanne Balbine Carrière (born 1827 in Daumazan-sur-Arize) and received further instruction as an organist under Camille Saint-Saëns at the Niedermeyer school. He became an organist and a piano teacher in Saint-Étienne, and then he became professor of piano at the Conservatoire de Lyon (1883). He later moved to Paris in 1888 as an artistic advisor of Maison Erard, he became organist of Saint-Séverin (1889) at the new instrument rebuilt by John Abbey, and then auditioned for and was granted the position of titular organist of Saint-Eustache in 1905, resigned the following year. In 1910 he was named director of Niedermeyer school. Périlhou was a prolific composer who wrote a large body of music for piano, organ, orchestra and voice. He retired in 1914 to Tain-l'Hermitage, where he died at the age of 90 on 28 August 1936. Probably following the example of his teacher and friend Saint-Saëns, he lived for some time in Algeria. His wife Jeanne Petit (born 4 February 1858 in Sens), who he married on 8 July 1879 in her hometown, passed away on 1 September in Tournon-sur-Rhône in the year following his death. They had a son, Louis. Périlhou and his wife are buried in Peaugres.
C. Reinecke. Ballade (für Flöte mit Klavierbegleitung) Op. 288. The ballad was the last composition by Carl Reinecke (1824-1910) and is also available for flute and orchestra. Masterfully composed, the flute music takes the listener into a deep harmonious atmosphere of musical romanticism Reinecke was born in what is today Hamburg, then under Danish rule. He received his initial musical instruction from his father, (Johann Peter) Rudolf Reinecke (22 November 1795 – 14 August 1883), a music teacher and writer on musical subjects. Carl first devoted himself to violin-playing but later turned his attention to the piano He began to compose at the age of seven, and his first public appearance as a pianist was when he was twelve years old. At the age of 19, he undertook his first concert tour as a pianist in 1843 and settled in Leipzig where he studied under Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann and Franz Liszt. After Leipzig, Reinecke went on tour with Königslöw and Wilhelm Joseph von Wasielewski (Schumann's biographer), in North Germany and Denmark. In 1846, Reinecke was appointed Court Pianist for Christian VIII in Copenhagen. There he remained until 1848, when he resigned and went to Paris. In 1851, Reinecke became a professor at the Cologne Conservatory. Later, he was appointed musical director in Barmen, and became the academic, musical director and conductor of the Singakademie at Breslau.
In 1860, Reinecke became director of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and professor of composition and piano at the Leipzig Conservatory. He led the orchestra until 1895. Reinecke is best known for his flute sonata "Undine", but he is also remembered as one of the most influential and versatile musicians of his time. He served as a teacher for 35 years, until his retirement in 1902. After retirement, Reinecke devoted his time to composition, resulting in almost three hundred published works. During this time, he frequently made concert tours. In 1904 at the age of 80, he made recordings of seven works playing on piano roll for the Welte-Mignon company, making him the earliest-born pianist to have his playing preserved in any format. He subsequently made a further 34 recordings for various piano roll companies. Reinecke died in Leipzig at age 85.
R. Speil. Ballade for Flute, Cornet, and Piano, ©1882. This romantic ballad by Rudolph Speil was so successful that it was arranged for various combinations of instruments. The cornet part is alternately written for Bb horn or cello. We chose alto flute for this concert. Speil was first mentioned in 1874 as taking part in the concerts in Detroit as cellist and flutist. He conducted the opening subscription concert of the Detroit Symphony in December 1887 and then headed this orchestra till Spring 1894. He was also known to conduct other orchestras and bands in Detroit. Around 1896, he moved to Toledo, Ohio where he was part of the Toledo Philharmonic Trio playing from 1898 to 1902.
D. Dorff. Ballade for Alto Flute, Bass Flute, and Piano. Notes by Mr. Dorff: This warmly eccentric piece was the conception of flutist Therese Wacker who has performed many of my flute works and recorded Sonatine de Giverny on CD. In late 2017, Terri asked if I'd be interested in a commission to write her a Ballade to play on Alto Flute along with her IUP colleague Kevin Eisensmith on Flugelhorn, plus Piano. The style should be uniquely fitting for that combination of instruments, and about 6-8 minutes. Although the specifications were so tightly defined, and requiring doublers' instruments that might not balance well, Terri knew my sweet spot for jazz-colored hybrids, and I was intrigued by the opportunity. We enrolled some more flutists and trumpeters into a consortium, and I began work with a lingering question about how to write such a piece that held one mood for so long. *** Surrounding a few middle sections is the main theme, a smoky, steamy love song that was supposed to be called "Rhonda." That's not what it sounds like. A few years earlier I had the pleasure of doing a CD with Ann Crumb -- Broadway star, blues singer, author, lyricist, animal-rights activist, and great inspiration to her father George. Ann influenced George to write Voice of the Whale, many song collections for Ann to sing; and some of the dogs in George's Mundus Canis were her rescues. A later addition to Ann's family was a German Shepherd named Rhonda who had been abused and had a fearful hatred of all men. Somehow Rhonda took to me, and Ann suggested we collaborate on a song for her next CD where I write the music, and she'd follow with the lyrics about Rhonda. The lyrics never happened, but all the 2-note rising or falling thirds in Ballade's main melody were earmarked for Rhonda's name to fit in. Following the November 2019 premiere by Therese Wacker and Kevin Eisensmith, there were many co-commissioners who had planned to perform Ballade on their Spring 2020 concerts, and between overdubbed videos and audience-less Zoom events, eventually these performances began to unfold. As another surprise, in 2020 co-commissioning flutist Wendy Stern asked if I'd be interested in adapting the Flugelhorn part for Bass Flute for her duo-partner Kathleen Nester, and that's the origin of the Alto & Bass Flutes version. It is a much-appreciated honor that both instrumentations were Winners of the NFA's Newly Published Music awards for the Low Flute category in their respective years of publication.
Daniel Dorff (born 1956) is an American composer, clarinetist, and saxophonist who is also Vice President of Publishing at the Theodore Presser Company. His music, performed and recorded globally by orchestras such as the Philadelphia and Minnesota Orchestras, includes compositions and arrangements for artists like Sir James Galway, Keith Emerson, and Lisa Loeb. At age 18, he received First Prize in the Aspen Music Festival's composers' competition. Dorff lectures on music engraving and notation, and his compositions appear with various publishers.
