Tabatha Easley and Tracy Cowden have been performing as a flute and piano duo together for over ten years. 

They have presented concerts across the United States and in Sydney, Australia.  Dedicated to promoting the work of living composers, Tabatha and Tracy have created dynamic programs featuring women and Latin American composers. 

Both, Tabatha and Tracy, hold degrees from the Eastman School of Music; Tabatha is Associate Professor of flute at Virginia Commonwealth University, and Tracy is the Roland K. Blumberg Endowed Professor and Director of the School of Music at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Programme

Nga Whetu e Whitu 3:36 Gareth Farr (b. 1968)

Borderlands Daniel M. Cavanagh (b. 1978)

Blue Steel

Inner Walls

Soul Windows

Move it for solo flute Carlos Simon (b. 1986)

Amazonia for flute and piano Valerie Coleman (b. 1970)

Cheap Suit for Flute and Piano Mark Olivieri (b. 1972)

Libba

III. Tango

Andante and Rondo op. 25 Albert Franz Doppler (1821-1883)

Julie Martin Maisel, flute

About the Artists

TABATHA EASLEY is Associate Professor of Flute and Coordinator of Winds and Percussion at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. Presenting concerts and masterclasses on six continents, she has also been a soloist with the Fairbanks Symphony, Astoria Sinfonia in New York, the Cole Conservatory of Music Orchestra, Orange County Arts High School Orchestra, Virginia Commonwealth University Symphonic Wind Ensemble and Orchestra, The University of Cauca Wind Ensemble in Popayán, Colombia, as well as Orchestra “EAFIT” in Medellín, Colombia.

Active in several professional organizations, Ms Easley was the performance program chair for the 2021 National CMS conference, and on the 2021 International conference performance subcommittee as well. She has also been Secretary, Committees Liaison, Collegiate Flute Choir Competition coordinator, and on the 2020 virtual series program committee for the National Flute Association.   Ms Easley has also performed at the Society of Composers Inc. National Conference, International Double Reed Society Conference in Tokyo, Japan, and the National Association of Wind and Percussion Instructors National Conference.   CMS International conferences have taken her to Belgium, Finland, Sweden, Australia and Argentina.

Ms Easley holds a doctoral degree from the Eastman School of Music; the first Alaskan to do so.   Her latest CD, 21st Century American Flute Sonatas released in 2022.  Former teachers include Bonita Boyd, Michael Parloff, Martha Aarons, Dr. John Barcellona, Dorli McWayne, Corinne McVee and Sharon Nowak.

www.tabatheasley.com 

TRACY COWDEN is the Roland K. Blumberg Endowed Professor in Music and Director of the School of Music at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA).  As a pianist, she shares her love of ensemble music through frequent performances with artists and colleagues across the United States, and by mentoring student pianists in solo and collaborative performance.  She has commissioned, performed, and recorded new 21st century music, and has premiered works in concerts and conferences from Kalamazoo to Bangkok.  Her latest recording, Rapture and Regret: Music of Daron Hagen, was released on the MSR Classics label.

Cowden’s recent work includes performing in health care settings in person and virtually, and facilitating interdisciplinary research regarding music and health; she is a member of the Brain Health Consortium at UTSA.  As part of her work to foster adult music learning, Cowden founded the outreach program On-Corps: Military City USA’s Beginning Band for Veterans in the Fall of 2022 at UTSA.  Also active as a clinician and lecturer, Cowden has presented master classes and workshops on topics related to collaborative music-making and creative programming across the United States.  Cowden is a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music through the Music Teachers National Association, and currently serves as the chair of the MTNA National Certification Commission, as well as chair of the College Music Society 2021 National Conference Committee, and as a visiting evaluator for the National Association of Schools of Music.

A Michigan native, Cowden has previously served as a faculty member at Virginia Tech, Ohio Wesleyan University, Kalamazoo College, and Hope College. She received the D.M.A. and M.M. degrees in piano accompanying and chamber music from the Eastman School of Music, and a B.M. degree in piano performance from Western Michigan University.

www.tracycowden.com  

Program Notes

New Zealander Gareth Farr is a composer and percussionist. During his time at Eastman, he introduced audiences to his on-stage alter-ego, the percussion playing drag queen, Lilith LaCroix. Nga whetu e whitu is a reference to Matariki, the Maori name for both the Pleiades star cluster and the time of year in which it first rises over New Zealand (late May to early June), marking the start of a new year. Matariki was also a valuable star cluster for navigation and an indicator of seasonal change, marking the time to begin preparing soil for planting.” (https://garethfarr.com)

Borderlands was written for Tracy Cowden and Tabatha Easley by Daniel M. Cavanagh. The work explores the sociological and political effects of changing physical international borders on the human beings and their extended families who happen to live in those areas. Specifically, this work focuses on the border between Mexico and the United States of America, and those cross-border families whose lives have continued to be altered due to tightening border restrictions and the militarization of our border. While there is no temporal program to follow, while composing I thought a great deal about an imagined, archetypical matriarch whose family was affected by the superimposition of new international borders (such as the formal establishment of the Texas-Mexico border in 1848).

The work is structured in three movements. The first movement, Blue Steel, is a reflection of the stoic nature of the geography of much of the US-Mexico border region. Few phrases gain any traction, and the flute and piano take turns outlining stark harmonies and sweeping gestures. The movement also draws a metaphor between the physical steel of a border wall and the internal steeliness one must have to deal with artificial barriers put up to pierce a region that was once continuous.

Movement two, Inner Walls, is a psychological exploration of the barriers we put up internally as we work to understand the cultures of others. The modal harmony contains few dissonant notes. While there is an element of traditional tension and release, in many ways the stable and unchanging harmony represents an inability for us to expand our thinking from our set ways.

The last movement, Soul Windows, bridges the inner and outer world.  This is the most lyrical movement of the composition. It draws upon musical material from the first two movements, quite figuratively connecting the inner and outer worlds.  Ending with a rhythmic gesture doubled in the flute and piano, the last figure echoes underneath the held flute note, the work reaches the last chord on a hopeful yet pensive harmony, leaving the listener to reflect on how we can keep human beings at the forefront of our political and societal decisions moving forward.

Move It! by Carlos Simon was premiered on the NFA virtual summer series in 2020. Grammy- nominated Simon is a keyboardist, music director and composer. He has traveled throughout Europe performing, and had multiple works commissioned by major orchestras. He is currently in residence at the Kennedy Center and was named as one of 2022’s “Composers and Performers to Watch” by the Washington Post. Regarding Move It! He writes,

“The pandemic of COVID-19 has continued to influence my social, professional and personal life in ways that I never imagined. I’ve been frustrated by not being able to function in normal routine of life, but also grateful to have the time to think and explore ideas and thoughts that I would not have done normally.  This piece is meant to represent my desire to get out MOVE.

My intent is to make this piece an imaginary syncopated joy ride. I wanted to explore the percussive and rhythmic nature of flute; something that moves with energy and forward motion. I’m so excited to be working with Brice and grateful for those who supported this commission.” (https://www.carlossimonmusic.com/works/move-it)

Amazonia for flute and piano by Valerie Coleman was the result of a consortium commission through the Flute New Music Consortium, and was premiered by Carol WIncenc in January, 2020 at Stony Brook, in NY. Valerie Coleman is a flutist composer, if you don’t know her music, I encourage you to explore it.

Coleman’s program notes (shortened), included in the score: Amazonia is a commemoration poem of what is considered to be the “lungs of the earth.” The poem describes its natural beauty that progressively becomes destroyed, as dark aspects of human nature intrude upon vitality. The work begins at Sunrise with the sounds of nocturnal animals like frogs and insects…and provides a raindrop-esque motif throughout the first part of the work. As the scene is set, a simple melody emerges representing the carefree children of the Amazon, immune to the dangers that lurk… following a brief flute cadenza, the section ends with a still life sunset of reds, oranges, and yellows. As the work unfolds, darker elements soon cloud the landscape. The piano ominously marks the entrance of poachers and mercenaries, with an aggressive yet stealthy march. The flute becomes the aggressor, articulating the word fire in morse code as an impending signal to the burnings that will soon occur. Elements of samba emerge, with a macabre dance that symbolizes greed… Amazonia ends on an intense panic of shrieks and screams.

Cheap Suit, a three movement sonata for flute and piano was written by Mark Olivieri.

Albert Franz Doppler was one of the most notable flutists and composers of flute music from the Romantic Era. He formed a duo with his brother Karl, and they traveled throughout Europe performing his many compositions.  The Andante and Rondo op. 25 was composed in 1874, and is actually part of a four-movement work that was only published in its entirety in 2018 and recorded by flutists András Adorján and Emmanuel Pahud.

Admission: Free