Masterworks: Landscapes
May 16 @ 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
$20 – $50
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Featured Artist: Amber Ferenz, bassoon
The symphony’s flagship classical series concludes with two WORLD PREMIERES: Kachina, by Amber Ferenz, and a commission for orchestra of music inspired by the foothills region by American composer Daniel Perttu. Grofé’s picturesque Grand Canyon Suite closes the series.
Program
Perttu World Premiere: Appalachian Vistas
Ferenz World Premiere: Kachina
Amber Ferenz, bassoon
— INTERMISSION —
Grofé Grand Canyon Suite
About the Artist:
Amber Ferenz is a nonbinary bassoonist and composer. Profoundly inspired by more than a decade of apprenticeship in indigenous medicine ways of the Americas and the magic and mystery of the natural world, they write lyrical, evocative pieces that weave together melodies and healing songs gifted by Nature.
Amber has been commissioned to write for solo bassoon, bassoon and piano, wind quartet, and bassoon and orchestra. Their most recent compositions include “Tales From the Grove” and “Unfinished Conversations” for bassoon and piano, “Wood, Water, and Roses: Women’s Medicine for Difficult Times” and “Yellow Poplar with Birdsong” for solo bassoon, “Tall Tales” for bassoon quartet, and “Bullfrog Boogie” for contrabassoon octet, which was featured at the 2022 IDRS Convention. Commissioned by Winston-Salem based chamber group Elektra Winds, their first wind quartet “These Four Directions” was an official selection for performance at the 2022 Music By Women Festival in Columbus, Mississippi. TrevCo Music publishes their growing catalogue.
Their composition “Songs for Wicked Children” for bassoon and piano featuring bassoonist Eric Van der Veer Varner was released as part of the album Compostela on the MSR Classics label in late 2022.
Amber received their Bachelor of Music in Bassoon Performance from the North Carolina School of the Arts, and their Master of Fine Arts in Western Orchestral Performance from the California Institute of the Arts. They teach bassoon at Gardner-Webb University and are a founding member of Elektra Winds and Queen City Winds, and serve as second bassoonist with the Asheville Symphony. Amber is also the contrabassoonist and interim orchestra librarian for the Greensboro Symphony, a frequent sub with the Charlotte Symphony, and the Camp Coordinator for the Glickman-Popkin Bassoon Camp since 2007 at the invitation of Mark Popkin.
