flute

by Jill Kimball

For most classically-trained musicians, performing a world premiere is the exception. But for flutist Paul Taub, it’s the rule.

Taub, a Cornish College of the Arts professor and well-known Seattle-area performer, has been a proponent of new music for decades. Over the years, he’s performed and commissioned countless premieres. But this week, he’s taking it a step further.

On Friday at 8pm, Taub has organized a concert of made up exclusively of world premieres. The show will feature flute chamber works by five area composers–Tom Baker, Andy Clausen, David Dossett, Jessika Kenney and Angelique Poteat–and will shine a spotlight on a handful of world-class local performers, including Taub himself. The concert is part of the Wayward Music Series at the Good Shepherd Center’s chapel performance space. If you go, bring a $5-$15 suggested donation.

I asked Taub a few questions about the pieces he commissioned, and his answers are below.

What inspired you to do a whole concert of world premieres?

My musical life—as a student, an educator, member of ensembles, professional organizations, circles of colleagues and friends—has often centered on new works and their creators and interpreters. And my relationships and interactions with composers have been highlights of my career. In my thirty-six years in Seattle, I have participated in hundreds of commissions of new music. This project gave me a chance to create opportunities for five unique composers to write works for me, in a chamber setting. The works you will hear on this program will contribute significantly to the general repertoire for the flute in chamber music. They are also gifts to the Seattle music-loving community, brought together through its interest and support and enjoyment of these engaging and inspiring composers. For me, the final gift is to be able to prepare and perform these new works with some of my favorite colleagues – Laura DeLuca, clarinet; Walter Gray, cello; Joe Kaufman, contrabass; Cristina Valdes, piano; and Matthew Kocmieroski, percussion!

You’ve heard and performed lots of new music. What do you think makes a new piece really good?

That’s a tough question! People have such contrasts in taste, stylistic preference… What one person considers a masterpiece someone else will find trivial, or boring. I consider myself a musical omnivore in terms of style so I can only answer the question more “generally” by saying that what I really, really like is music that grips me both emotionally and intellectually. Somehow the perfect balance between those two elements makes for a great piece.

Why did you choose these five composers?

[These composers] have been invited to participate in this project because of the high artistic quality of their work, the diversity of their styles, the varied stages of their career trajectories, and above all, because their music truly speaks to me and to the public.

The variety of musical styles is a key element of the project. Baker and Kenney are well-established “mid-career” composers, with impressive resumes and works that have been played internationally. Poteat, in her late 20s, is emerging as a significant voice in the Seattle and national music world, with recent pieces commissioned by the Seattle Symphony. Emerging composers Dossett and Clausen (whose band The Westerlies has taken the jazz world by storm), are recent college graduates (Cornish College of the Arts and the Juilliard Jazz Program). The composers’ musical styles are varied and contrasting, with influences as diverse as jazz, electronics, Persian modes, classical music and improvisation.

What does the rest of this concert season have in store for you?

I’m especially looking forward to a few events. I’ll be playing a solo by Estonian composer Helena Tulve with the Seattle Modern Orchestra on February 20; touring the Northwest with a program of Brazilian flute and piano music with pianist/composer Jovino Santos Neto (Portland, Methow Valley, Seattle and Bellevue) in late February/early March; and taking the lead in a concert of music by Janice Giteck on April 12 at Cornish.

by Maggie Stapleton

Seattle’s rich and vibrant flute community would not be nearly such without the presence of influence of Paul Taub. He is a Professor of Music at Cornish College of the Arts and founding member of the Seattle Chamber Players, two organizations constantly pushing the envelope of contemporary music through innovative performance venues and adventurous repertoire. I’m thinking most recently of the Icebreaker VII Festival at On the Boards in Seattle. (Listen if you haven’t heard these excerpts!)

Paul has performed and recorded American and world premieres by Robert Aitken, John Cage, George Crumb, Janice Giteck, Sofia Gubaidulina, Wayne Horvitz, Ned Rorem, Toru Takemitsu, Reza Vali, and Peteris Vasks – composers you’ll likely hear on any given day here on Second Inversion! In 2011, Paul released Edge, a collection of “Flute Music from the Periphrey of Europe” on the Present Sounds label here in Seattle. Chamber music by Armenian Artur Avanesov, Latvian Peteris Vasks, Georgian Giya Kancheli, Azerbaijani Elmir Mirzoev, and Russian Sergei Slonimsky are represented by some of Seattle’s finest musicians.

Giya Kancheli’s Ninna Nanna Per Anna was commissioned by the National Flute Association in recognition of Paul Taub’s multiyear Board of Directors and New Music Advisory committee roles. Dr. Elena Dubinets writes, “This beautiful and uncannily slow lullaby uncovers itself through a very gradual blinking of major and minor keys in the pastel tones of nostalgia and half-forgotten memories.”

Please enjoy this entire track performed by flutist Paul Taub and many amazing collaborative musicians from the Seattle Area. (Paul Taub, flute; Mikhail Shmidt, violin; Natasha Bazhanov, violin; Julie Whitton, viola; David Sabee, cello)