Aviary

by Elizabeth Robinson

There should be more fun in new music. We all know the trope of the flute as a bird - light, delicate, graceful. Chirpy.

What happens when the bird can’t fly? What if it’s the world’s least-elegant penguin? From chickens that bear a striking resemblance to John Lennon, to penguins that literally jump into everything with both feet, this album captures the silliest, strangest, and most whimsical birds. There are tongue-in-cheek jokes about the piccolo, soaring high notes and… trumpet mouthpiece sounds? Melodies that could be straight from one of Tchaikovsky’s ballets are juxtaposed with a flock of stomping flamingos.

Each piece is its own unique world, creating a musical window into a specific place, or evoking a unique bird. Missouri Adventure was commissioned as a celebration of Missouri’s statehood bicentennial, and drew inspiration from the many national parks found there. Fowl Play explores four breeds of exotic chickens, evoking their origins, their temperaments, and the characteristics of their plumage.

Death Whistle is an homage to the piccolo, and extended harangue from a composer to a friend turned performer, rife with inside jokes and piccolo gymnastics. Spooklight celebrates an urban legend from Joplin, Missouri, and flirts with the supernatural.

Starling evokes the bird by the same name, and the beautiful murmurations flocks create. Flamingo! flocks as well, but on the ground, dancing the strange, and yet strangely beautiful flamingo ballet.

We end with the world’s smallest - and arguably, most ridiculous - penguin, the rockhopper. Known as much for its unusual antics as its distinctive plumage, I hope this final bird will bring you as much joy as it brings me.

PROGRAM NOTES

Missouri Adventure

Missouri Adventure was commissioned in celebration of Missouri’s Bicentennial anniversary. Gay Kahkonen drew inspiration from Missouri’s many beautiful natural spaces. Inspired by the forests surrounding the Ozarks, as well as the many rivers, this piece is a gorgeous homage to the beautiful spaces of Missouri.

Fowl Play

Back in the days when every community had a Barnes and Noble bookstore, I stumbled across a coffee table book called Extraordinary Chickens. I was amused by the title, but fell in love with Stephen Green-Armytage’s unique artistic vision. The book is a collections photographs of chickens, but with stark backgrounds, reminiscent of a high-fashion shoot.

Years later, Kimberly Osberg found a way to create musical tributes to the chickens, loosely inspired by those photographs. Since encountering Extraordinary Chickens, I’ve loved the head plumage of the Polish chicken, and the way their head feathers make them resemble a mad scientist or a young John Lennon. In all of the photos, their mouths are open, as if smiling, or they’re energetically attending to chicken business. Similarly, Discopeckque is a joyful romp through a chicken universe, with the added chaos of truly fancy feathers.

Osberg was drawn to one of the oldest breeds of chicken, the Duckwing Phoenix and its long, graceful tail-feathers. This movement juxtaposes the alto and bass flutes for the inherent beauty of those elegant tails, but even elegant chickens aren’t able to stay serious for long.

The silkie chicken, so fluffy you can barely tell it’s a chicken, is known to be among friendliest breed of chicken and is often kept as a pet. In Featherbrained, Osberg captures their gentle nature with flutter tongue, pizzicato, and gentle tremolos.

Originally from the Indonesian island, Sumatra chickens are among the most striking; some are solid black, including feathers, beaks, eyes, and waddles. They’re also a unique breed in that they’re the only chickens that can reliably fly. Cock Flight pits two piccolos against one another to evoke their unique plumage, their graceful flight, and a “plucky” chicken energy to finish the piece.

Deathwhistle

In her piece notes, Nicole Chamberlain writes, “The piccolo is notorious for its incredibly high pitches and gets a bad rap for its intonation issues. It takes a brave soul to consider playing the piccolo and a person of questionable character to love it.”

This piece evolved from a desire to collaborate with composer and long-time friend Nicole Chamberlain. As any orchestral piccoloist will tell you, setting up for rehearsal can involve certain amount of complaining from immediate neighbors and negotiating comfort with distance, sound shields, and earplugs. As Nicole and I were working out the details of a commission for solo piccolo, I shared photos of a three-sided plexiglass wall, meant to save the second violins from the finale of Verdi’s Requiem and a particularly high passage in one of Howard Hanson’s symphonies. If I complained about specific excerpts from our season Nicole took note - literally - and Death Whistle was born.

”Ear Knife” spotlights the cutting, razor sharp character of high notes - there are references to that Verdi rehearsal, “Ballistophobia,” or the fear of being shot, is a tongue-in-cheek take on the joke that starts, “How do you tune two piccolos?” The final movement, “#PiccoloOhMyGod” started as a hashtag joke between composer and commissioner, and quotes a number of “fun” moments from piccolo literature.

Starling

Starlings have been introduced to climates around much of the world. Some, like the Bali myna, are endangered; others are considered to be common or invasive species. Lisa Bost-Sandberg was inspired by three aspects of the starling - their iridescent feathers, their flocking behaviors, and their calls - when she wrote this piece. The species vary greatly in appearance, but many possess an iridescent, metallic sheen on their feathers. En masse, their vocalizations can be raucous; they were prized in Europe for their mimicry skills. Starlings have been known to imitate other bird calls, human speech, and city noises.

When starlings travel, they do so in large groups, called murmurations. These shifting shapes tend to fill the skies at dusk, as the starlings travel toward their roosting place. In a murmuration, hundreds - sometimes thousands - of starling swoop through the sky in a truly impressive, shape-shifting mass.

This quartet uses subtle tonal changes, timbral trills, and staggered harmonies to evoke the bird’s iridescent feathers. Brief moments of birdsong imitate the literal sounds of starlings, but I particularly enjoy the way the texture ebbs and flows, imitating the starling murmurations.

Spooklight

An urban legend around Joplin, Missouri, the “spooklight” is described as an orb of light, appearing, hovering, and moving in the dark distance. There are numerous local legends to explain this eerie phenomenon; I particularly love the Native American story of deceased lovers, in search of one another for eternity. Others insist it is the spirit of a dead miner, traveling the path he would have followed in life. A scientific investigation in 2014 attempted to debunk any supernatural explanations, concluding the lights were head and tail lights from an interstate nine miles away.

This quintet gives its performers a unique opportunity to lean into the unsettled, ethereal mood of a dark, quiet highway and the sudden jolts of adrenaline that follow the unexpected. As with all of Chamberlain’s works, the piece creates a complete sound world - with cheeky musical references from the composer.

Flamingo

From a distance, the flamingo is tall, elegant, and graceful. Up close, they’re a very unbalanced bird - impossibly thin legs and an outsized beak. I was drawn to their bright, unnatural coloration; composer Anne McKinnon was fascinated by their mating dance.

Sometimes called the “flamingo ballet” this dance entails a horde of male flamingos, each stomping and waddling in tandem to attract the attention of the female birds, before engaging in a prolonged and elaborate “dance” en masse.

Hoppy Feet

The rockhopper penguin, smallest of the crested penguin, is known for the thin yellow and black crest behind their red eyes, and for the exuberant way they travel from place to place. Rockhoppers are found on the rocky beaches of Chile and New Zealand, and as the name suggests, often hop across the more difficult terrain.

During the pandemic lockdown, many zoos and aquariums used the quiet to allow animals to explore new habitats. I loved videos of the rockhoppers traveling together, hopping en masse down stairs, through corridors, and exploring new places with an enthusiasm that bordered on comic.

Kim uses a variety of special effects to capture their unique interaction with the world - tremolos and color effects for the deep-sea diving, trumpet effects for their boisterous vocalizations, and lots - and lots - of character.

ABOUT ELIZABETH ROBINSON

Flutist and educator Elizabeth Robinson is an active soloist, orchestral, and chamber performer. Originally from rural Tennessee, she nurtured her music career by creating many of her own performance opportunities. As an educator, she defines her career through creating those opportunities for other musicians and contributing to the cultural growth of the region. Among her passions is the commissioning of new music, creating educational opportunities for her studio, and participating in exciting chamber ensembles.

Known for her infectious energy and boundless enthusiasm, Elizabeth shared the stage with over a dozen orchestras and wind ensembles from coast to coast: in addition to her current position as the Diana Osterhout piccolo chair of the Topeka Symphony, she has held positions with the Heartland Opera, Salina Symphony, and Muncie Symphony (IN). She has performed both within the orchestra and as soloist with ensembles including the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas, Springfield Symphony (MO), Enid Symphony, Kansas State University Wind Ensemble, Wichita Grand Opera, and Colorado's MahlerFest, among many others.

Elizabeth is an Assistant Professor of Music at South Dakota State University, where she teaches flute and courses from the music theory sequence. Her teaching emphasizes the works of living composers, particularly for student chamber ensembles. Many of her commissions began as collaborations for her studio and flute choir.

In an effort to expand the flute repertoire, she co-founded the Flute New Music Consortium (FNMC), and currently serves the organization as Vice President. Formed in 2013, FNMC is an organization with the shared mission of promoting new music for the flute by commissioning works, organizing simultaneous premieres and encouraging repeat performances. FNMC has commissioned composers such as Pulitzer Prize winner Zhou Long, Pulitzer Prize nominee Carter Pann, Valerie Coleman, Samuel Zyman, and Reena Esmail. Further, she coordinates the organization’s annual composition competition, and is proud of collaborations with several of its winning composers. In addition to organizing regional performances of the works commissioned by the organization, Dr. Robinson often performs them herself. For her efforts in growing FNMC, Elizabeth has been recognized in the National Flute Association’s Flutists’ Quarterly Magazine and by the Atlanta Flute Club Newsletter.

Her most recent project is album newly-commissioned and mostly bird-themed works for flute, piccolo, or flute quartet, including a flute quartet inspired by the coffee table book Extraordinary Chickens. The album, Aviary, will be released on the Aerocade Music label in 2023. Aviary features works by composers Nicole Chamberlain, Gay Kahkonen, Anne McKennon, Kimberly Osberg, and Lisa Bost-Sandberg.

Winner of the 2012 NFA Graduate Research Competition, Robinson’s dissertation titled Voice, Itinerant, and Air: The Solo Flute Works of Toru Takemitsu was presented at the 2012 NFA Convention. Dr. Robinson holds degrees in flute performance from Drake University (B.M.), San Francisco State University (M.M.), and Ball State University (D.A.). Her major teachers have included Linda Lukas of the San Francisco Symphony and Dr. Mihoko Watanabe.

She currently makes her home in South Dakota, where she lives with her husband Don, her dogs Sophie and Olive, and a sassy orange cat named Toby.

Website: robinsonflute.com

ABOUT THE FEATURED FLUTISTS

Emlyn Johnson is the flutist and co-director of American Wild Ensemble, which celebrates American people, places, and stories through the commission and performance of thematic new music. Since 2015, Dr. Johnson has commissioned 40 new works for 2-7 performers for the ongoing Music in the American Wild initiative, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music America, and Mid-America Arts Alliance, among others. These commissions are featured on two American Wild Ensemble albums, the most recent of which, Duos and Trios, was released in summer 2022 on the New Focus Recordings label. Emlyn was awarded first prize in the 2022 National Flute Association CREATE Arts Venture Competition for a musical storytelling program that the ensemble will premiere in spring 2023.

Emlyn also performs regularly with new music ensembles including Ensemble Signal, Alla Balena Ensemble, and tuo duo and additionally shares her enthusiasm and advocacy for new music as co-host of the podcast New Music Listening Club.

In addition to her work as a performer and ensemble director, Emlyn serves as Executive Director of the Pro Musica series in Joplin, Missouri, which has presented classical chamber music in southwest Missouri since 1981. She has previously served as the flute instructor at several State University of New York institutions, as Career Advisor at Eastman School of Music’s Institute for Music Leadership, and most recently as a music instructor at Missouri State University. Emlyn received her DMA and BM from Eastman School of Music and her MM from The University of Michigan. www.emlynjohnson.com

Carmen Lemoine is a flutist living in Los Angeles.

Erin K. Murphy (Photo: Jack Benson)

Erin K. Murphy frequently performs with orchestras, in chamber music collaborations, and as a soloist throughout the U.S. and abroad. She holds flute performance degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Northwestern University, and University of Michigan. In addition, she earned a performance certificate in England at Trevor Wye’s international studio.

Erin has performed as a soloist with the Lake Forest Civic Orchestra, Oklahoma State University Wind Ensemble and Symphony Orchestra, Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra, and Ravenswood Community Orchestra. Recent orchestral performances include those with the Kansas City Symphony and Oklahoma City Philharmonic. She has been featured at many conferences including College Music Society National and Regional, Music by Women Festival in Mississippi, Flute New Music Consortium New Music Festival, National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors, Women Composers Festival of Hartford, and several National Flute Association Conventions. She is a founding member of Lakeshore Rush, a Chicago-based chamber ensemble that frequently collaborates with composers and performs lesser-known contemporary works. Her recent solo and chamber music recordings can be heard on Albany and Navona Records.

Dr. Murphy joined the faculty at Oklahoma State University as the Assistant Professor of Flute in 2018. She held previous teaching appointments at Lamar University, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, and Maranatha Baptist University. Her articles have been published in The Flutist Quarterly, Journal of the International Alliance for Women in Music, FQ Plus, Flute Talk, BandDirectorsTalkShop.com, and Chicago Flute Club’s Pipeline. Visit www.erinkmurphyflute.com for more information.

Praised for her "luscious, full sound" (American Record Guide) and "effortless precision" (Flutist Quarterly), Nicole Riner maintains an active national presence as a recitalist and pedagogue. She has presented master classes at universities and conservatories across the country and has performed with orchestras and at music festivals in the United States, South American, and Europe. A champion of new music, Nicole has also commissioned and premiered numerous works as a soloist and chamber musician. In 2016, she joined the board of Flute New Music Consortium, a commissioning organization for flutists. In 2022 she became president of FNMC.

Nicole currently teaches flute and entrepreneurship classes at University of Wyoming, where she also oversees the Entrepreneurship Certificate program. Previous teaching appointments include Sulzbach-Rosenberg International Music Festival, Interlochen Arts Camp, Michigan State University, and Indiana University-Purdue University. In the public school realm, Nicole is founder and artistic director of Chamber Music Lab, a residency program for high school bands, and Flute Crew, a middle school group learning experience for flutists. She has also served as guest instructor in iCadenza's Coro program, where you can find her instructional videos for emerging music entrepreneurs looking to develop their private teaching studios.

Nicole holds degrees from University of Illinois (BM), Michigan State University (MM), and Indiana University (DM). She is grateful to have studied with Kathryn Lukas, Richard Sherman, Alexander Murray, and Jan Boland. Her live performances have been broadcast on NPR affiliate stations in Michigan, Minnesota, Wyoming, and Colorado, where she had a recurring role as both writer and performer in the series, Telling Stories. She has recorded for ACA Digital, Albany, and Centaur Record labels and is also co-creator and co-host of the new music podcast, Music Crush. Nicole is an Altus Performing Artist.

ABOUT THE COMPOSERS

Lisa Bost-Sandberg (Photo: Shawna Noel Schill)

Dr. Lisa Bost-Sandberg is a flutist, composer, and improviser deeply committed to contemporary music as well as its rich roots in the classical repertoire. She has performed as a featured flutist-composer for the New York Flute Club’s “Solo Flute Spectacular” concert, served as the guest artist for the Utah Flute Festival and the Seattle Flute Society Horsfall Competition, and performed on flute and bass flute for the virtual film premiere of Julia Wolfe’s Oxygen for 12 flutes, presented by Carnegie Hall. Bost-Sandberg has toured internationally and has recorded on the Albany, GIA, and North Texas Jazz labels.

As a composer, her music has been performed at major conferences and festivals across the United States and abroad. She is the 2023 North Dakota Music Teachers Association Commissioned Composer, and her works have been honored as prize-winners and finalists in composition competitions of the National Flute Association, the Flute New Music Consortium, and the American Trombone Workshop.

A dynamic and impactful teacher, Bost-Sandberg has taught masterclasses, presented lecture-recitals, and led workshops at numerous institutions and festivals. She is the Teaching Assistant Professor of Flute at the University of North Dakota and teaches at the International Music Camp. Originally from Montana, she received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in flute performance with a related field in composition from the University of North Texas as a recipient of the prestigious Masters and Doctoral Fellowship. She is also a graduate of New York University (Master of Arts) and The University of Iowa (Bachelor of Music). www.lisabost.com

Nicole Chamberlain (Photo: Heather Damaske)

Composer and flutist Nicole Chamberlain (b. 1977) has a varied career in the arts, acquiring simultaneous bachelor degrees in Music Composition and Digital Media at the University of Georgia. Her original compositions are influenced by storytelling and visual imagery from her former day job as a web animator and designer. Chamberlain's music "heavily utilizes extended techniques [that] play into the theme or story of each piece to sonically enhance its meaning" (The Flute View). "Being a virtuoso flautist herself has informed her ability to write for the instrument with thrilling facility and endearing charm." (Gramophone Magazine). As a Powell Flutes Artist, Chamberlain has been enabled in this endeavor to perform her music to a wide audience and wouldn't trade in her Powell Conservatory 9K Aurumite Flute and a Powell Handmade Custom Grenadilla Piccolo for the world.

Currently, Chamberlain balances her time composing, teaching students, performing, and avoiding graphic design work as much as possible. She lives in Doraville with her husband, guitarist and composer Brian Chamberlain. The Chamberlains have their own independent music publishing company, Spotted Rocket Publishing (www.spottedrocket.com), and pitbull, Gerty, who longs to be a social media influencer. You can typically catch Chamberlain on any of the many social media platforms where she spends an abhorrent amount of time. For more information visit her website at www.nikkinotes.com.

Gay Kahkonen earned her degree in music composition from Oberlin Conservatory. Her flute studies were with Bernard Z. Goldberg and Wendy Webb Kumer. For over twenty years, Gay taught flute lessons, served as a marching band coach, and directed student flute choirs. Her compositions have been performed across the country, most notably at National Flute Association and Mid-Atlantic Flute conventions and at the Music by Women Festival. She has received commissions from Pittsburgh Flute Club, Slippery Rock University, Parasky Flute Studio, Michigan Flute Orchestra, Madison Flute Club, Renaissance City Women’s Choir, Pittsburgh Pubic Theater, and others. Gay’s music is both self-published and published by ALRY Publications. Her composition SPY! won an award for best flute ensemble piece in the National Flute Association Newly Published Music Competition (2020), and her composition los Caballos won in the flute quartet category (2021). www.gkahkonen.com

Anne McKennon is a freelance flutist and composer in Jacksonville, Florida. She can be found playing anything from orchestral music to rock-n-roll and Irish jigs, tin whistle included. As a performer and a composer, she has a special affinity for programmatic works that tell stories or paint pictures. Of all the flute chamber works she has written, there are only two she has yet to perform herself: Rival and Flamingo! Her favorite ensemble is a duet: "The clarity of two voices can bring both simplicity and intricate complexity. It is a fascinatingly malleable medium."

Ms. McKennon's work has been featured by Jacksonville University (several), Civic Orchestra of Jacksonville (Emergence, Brian Boru's March), First Coast Pops Orchestra (We Wish You a Merry Christmas), the Tualatin Valley Symphony (Ollie the Alligator 2nd Ed.) and the Australian Flute Festival in 2017 (Fledgling). She holds a Bachelor of Music in Composition from Jacksonville University and a Bachelor of Arts in Business from the University of South Florida. Her teachers include Dr. Jian-Jun He (composition), Les Roettges (flute), and Mary Ellen Potter (flute). She continues to perform with the Jacksonville University Orchestra as an alumni member.

Kimberly R. Osberg (photo: Mauricio Herrera)

Kimberly R. Osberg (b. 1992) is a composer from Eau Claire, Wisconsin who specializes in interdisciplinary collaboration. Her projects have included dance, film, environmental sound installations, instrumental theatre, plays, opera, visual art, award ceremonies, and stage combat. Her music has been described as “brilliant,” “highly-engaging,” “wonderfully suspenseful,” and “intensely colorful,” and has received acclaim from academic, commercial, and public audiences alike. Her collaborations have been hailed as “ambitious” and “pioneering,” and have even inspired collaborators to launch annual opportunities for composers (including the Exponential Ensemble’s Fordham Composers Program). Her work has been featured by Samsung as part of their featured VR experiences, and her 2020 Commissions from Quarantine project was a feature story in both the Dallas Morning News and WQOW News 18. She is also an active writer, creating original text for over a dozen musical works—including a tone poem for projected text and chamber orchestra (Rocky Summer, Dallas Chamber Symphony), and an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” for her operetta, Thump (New Voices Opera).

During her 3 years in Dallas, TX, Kimberly’s prolific output included collaborations with nearly a dozen DFW-based organizations, musicians, and ensembles, including the Dallas Chamber Symphony, the Dallas Contemporary and artist Ian Davenport, Bruce Wood Dance, Trio Kavanáh, and MAKE. Other notable collaborations include projects with the Pittsburg State University Wind Ensemble, the New Voices Opera company, and the Indiana University Department of Theatre, Drama, and Contemporary Dance (including mainstage shows Macbeth and Prospect Hill, and works for dance and stage combat). Since moving to Portland, Oregon in 2020, Kimberly’s rich output has exploded into a dynamic array of works, including collaborations with the Merian Ensemble, the Beau Soir Ensemble, Resonance Ensemble, the Grand Circle New Music Ensemble, the Chaski duo, Whistling Hens, the New Mexico Contemporary Ensemble, the Bassless Trio, tuo duo, and SANS; duo—not to mention several middle school, high school, and collegiate music programs, as well as countless individual musicians across the country—resulting in over 80 new musical works between 2020 and January 2022.

CREDITS

SELECTED REVIEWS