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This Sunday, May 22, the 2022 Chamber Music Series will continue at 2 p.m. (ET) with a performance highlighting double reeds on music written in the 20th Century by composers such as Francis Poulenc, Maurice Ravel, and Leoš Janáček. Coordinated by Bassoonist Staff Sgt. Matthew Gregoire, the concert will take place in John Philip Sousa Band Hall at the Marine Barracks Annex in Southeast Washington, D.C., and livestream at youtube.com/usmarineband.

Photo by Gunnery Sgt. Brian Rust

Chamber Series Highlights Double Reeds

17 May 2022 | Gunnery Sgt. Rachel Ghadiali United States Marine Band

This Sunday, May 22, the 2022 Chamber Music Series will continue at 2 p.m. (ET) with a performance highlighting double reeds on music written in the 20th Century by composers such as Francis Poulenc, Maurice Ravel, and Leoš Janáček. Coordinated by Bassoonist Staff Sgt. Matthew Gregoire, the concert will take place in John Philip Sousa Band Hall at the Marine Barracks Annex in Southeast Washington, D.C., and livestream at youtube.com/usmarineband.

Program and Notes

The program begins with Trio for Two Bassoons and Contrabassoon by Victor Bruns, and this sets the tone for the concert, showing off the bassoon’s variety of colors and registers, with a light and bouncy first movement contrasted by the dissonant and chromatic second movement, followed by the dance-like and eventual rapid frenzy third movement and waltz-like closing.

“I wanted to showcase pieces that I liked and feature the bassoon and oboe,” Gregoire said. “This gives the audience a chance to hear a lot of bassoon up close and personal.”

Gregoire is especially excited about the audience experiencing André Previn’s Trio for Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano as well as Leoš Janáček’s Mládí (Youth). Previn’s composition features gorgeous melodic solos and elements of ragtime and jazz while Janáček’s work performed by a woodwind sextet demonstrates an instrumental vocal line based on natural rhythms and pitch inflections of spoken language.

“These are two of the best pieces of wind chamber writing, in my opinion,” Gregoire added. “And I think patrons will appreciate the range that the bassoon brings to this program. It will show off all of the multifaceted bassoon—witty, lyrical, and jazzy.”

John Philip Sousa Band Hall is located at 1053 7th Street, SE, in Washington, DC. Free parking is available beneath the overpass across from the Annex. Please allow extra time for ID checks. Limited seating is available and the schedule is subject to change.

Directions and parking

Livestream