Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Strobe will Give its Next Recital at Music on the Hill

This past February 2 marked the first anniversary of Strobe, one of the more unique chamber ensembles one is likely to encounter. The group was formed by cellist Krisanthy Desby to explore the repertoire for oboe and strings. (The name is a mash-up of the nouns “strings” and “oboe.”) The oboist of the group is Laura Griffiths, joined by violinist Stephanie Bibbo and violist Caroline Lee, as well as Desby.

This ensemble will be performing their next program in the Music on the Hill concert series. Music on the Hill was formed in 1998 with the goal of presenting cutting-edge chamber music programming. It therefore seems appropriate that Strobe will use this occasion to offer the premiere of their first commissioned work, as piece not yet titled by Vincent Russo. They will also revisit their debut with a performance of the second (in C major) of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s five K. 439b divertimenti. According to the Neue Ausgabe, Mozart scored this for three basset horns, but Strobe plays it as a trio for oboe, violin, and cello. [updated 3/7, 3:40 p.m.: The Mozart selection has been changed to the K. 370 oboe quartet in F major.] Similarly, they will perform their own arrangement of Zoltán Kodály’s 1905 intermezzo for string trio. They will also perform Gordon Jacob’s 1938 oboe quartet, dedicated to the famous British oboist Leon Goossens.

This concert will take place at 7 p.m. on Sunday, March 12. The venue for Music on the Hill concerts is St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church, located in Diamond Heights. The street address is 101 Gold Mine Drive, which is at the corner of Diamond Heights Boulevard. General admission will be $18 with a $12 rate for seniors aged 65 and older and students up to eighteen years old. Children aged twelve and younger will be admitted at no charge. Tickets may be purchased in advance online through a Brown Paper Tickets event page.

No comments: