Hello and welcome!
Thank you to all who have joined us in recent performances! There is no substitute for the reciprocity and joy that live music brings to both audience and performers. The interaction between audience and musicians is irreplaceable and your presence is what makes the magic happen.
I hope that you can join me and the many wonderful, talented musical friends I am fortunate to work and play with in these upcoming performances:
*on Sunday, May 31st at 4pm, guitarist José Manuel Lezcano and I will be performing some really fantastic music to include Dr. Lezcano’s works, as well as works of Villa-Lobos, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Piazzolla and Merlin. The concert will take place at Music At The Meetinghouse, the First Congregational Church of Lebanon, Lebanon, NH.
*Cameo Baroque is preparing a wonderful spring program omusic of the French baroque. Composers to include Boismortier, Dornel, Leclair, and Naudot. Dates and places TBD.
*With Jason Smoller, oboe and Henry Danaher, piano, a program of trios and duos by Madeline Dring, Gary Schocker, Eugène Goossens, Karl Goepfart, Francis Poulenc, and Claude Bolling. Dates and places TBD.
*And on Sunday, October 11th, 4pm, with pianist Matthew Odell a program of American works (and maybe one French work!) at Music At The Meetinghouse, the First Congregational Church of Lebanon, Lebanon, NH.
Many thanks to all who gave their time to us last season. Without you, the audience, there would be no one to be ‘in concert’ with us. We deeply appreciate the gift of your time and your support of music old and new. .
It’s here now! Needless to say, we (Matthew, Peter and I) are very fortunate and excited to have partnered with MSR Classics in releasing this album, a true labor of love. Matthew and I were very fortunate to be able to work with M. Merlet while in Paris-in February of 2020. The time spent with M. Merlet was beyond priceless. This project has been a journey in every way. Almost all the music is a premier recording in one way or another. Merlet’s music is beautifully conceived and crafted, and has all the color and intensity one might expect from a leading French composer of the 20th and 21st centuries. And, he is a true gentleman in every way.
Available wherever you buy or stream your classical music. Or, you can contact me directly through my contact page to buy a copy directly from me.
In All Directions, Chamber Music for Flute, Cello and Piano by Michel Merlet
And as always, any exciting or interesting news, I will be sure and post right here. We hope to see you soon!
Matthew Odell and I very are excited to have released our album, Sonatas for Flute and Piano, by Gary Schocker
Noted by American Record Guide as “…authoritative,” having a “rich, velvety sound” and “…both of them have command of all the difficulties,” as well as by The Flutist Quarterly as “confident, winning performances” and the “finesse of her performance is equaled by pianist Matthew Odell”.
You can find our album on Amazon, iTunes, Spotify, and Naxos under our names, or Gary Schocker’s name.
These wonderfully conceived and truly collaborative works are filled with wit, charm, beautiful lines, and virtuosic passages for both instruments. Gary Schocker, one of America’s most important and unique compositional voices, truly captures the best of both instruments and the colors they are capable of producing in these diverse and dialogue-filled chamber sonatas. We are indebted to Mr. Schocker for writing these colorful works, and for sharing so much time and insight with us.
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We did make it to Paris and back just before everything was shut down. We were extremely grateful to have the opportunity to play for a lovely, welcoming audience at L’eglise Saint-Merry, as part of the concert series Accueil Musical, performing music of Schubert, Rogerson, Carter, Schocker, Merlet, and Franck.
We are also extremely grateful to Michel Merlet and his wife Sophie for not only coming to the concert, but for meeting with us the next day to work on M. Merlet’s music for flute and piano, and for flute alone. We hope to begin recording this wonderful music, as well as his trio for flute, cello, and piano, sometime in the next year. Having the opportunity to work with M. Merlet was as invaluable as it was inspiring. His support and enthusiasm for this project, so dear to our hearts, means so much.
And-my husband and I made it to the Louvre the day before it closed! Seeing the Mona Lisa in real life was everything people say it is! And more…
Leslie Stroud 