Black Sheep Blog #1
Here’s the first Blog Update about my next big project! If you follow me on Facebook (and if you don’t already, the link for my page is under the “Contact” page of this site) then you’re sure to have seen several posts about this already.
In case you’re just tuning in, I am extremely excited to announce the formation “Black Sheep”, an instrumental performance duo consisting tubist, Liam Sheehy and myself. The current instrumentation for the group will have Liam on Tuba and myself on bass clarinet and baritone saxophone, but since we both do a good deal of work as doublers we’re hoping to expand this even further as time goes on. Here’s a quick Q&A on what we have planned:
Q. Why this instrumentation?
A. Liam and I have known each other since I was in my undergraduate at Montclair State and both shared a love for contemporary music. I had the advantage to specialize in bass clarinet in my undergraduate while studying with Dennis Smylie, and Liam now has two degrees in tuba performance. We feel we share many artistic ideals and work well together, so we wanted do begin doing more than just running through some duets in a practice room.
Q. What music are we planning to perform?
A. Unfortunately, the current repertoire for a tuba and bass clarinet is rather limited. Since we are both now located in Boston, we have decided to team up with several composers from The Boston Conservatory composition department and commission five new works for our inaugural concert in October. I’ll talk more about the cool-cats that will be writing these awesome new works in a future post and will have concert details soon. In the future we plan to include some pre-existing music into our concerts as well as continuing to commission new works.
Q. Why the name Black Sheep?
A. WHY NOT? Also, the name was chosen for a few simple reasons, 1. Liam and I find sheep to be rather adorable 2. How frequently do you find chamber repertoire for tuba or bass clarinet? Both instruments are given little attention from their respective instrumental families, so we found the name fitting to our situation.
That’s a basic run down Black Sheep! Both Liam and I are extremely excited to begin working with some talented composers and make some great music together. Stay tuned to both this site and my Facebook page for more updates every week including composer biographies, descriptions of the new works, and concert details!
Nicole