Love Letter to the Contrabassoon
Program Notes
Commission: Julien Rollins, Contrabassoonist, Billings Symphony Orchestra
Premiere: Julien Rollins, Senior Recital: Julien Rollins '24, Bassoon. Brown Hall, New England Conservatory (Boston, MA).
Additional Performances: Julien Rollins, Composition Gala Concert. Lawrence and Alma Berk Hall, Berklee College of Music (Boston, MA); Julien Rollins, Tufts / NEC Senior Dual Degree Recital. Distler Hall, Tufts University (Medford, MA).
Studio Recording: Contrabassoon: Julien Rollins. Audio Engineer: Tea Mottolese.
Inspired by Julien, Love Letter to the Contrabassoon is dedicated to Julien and to every contrabassoonist who is passionate about their instrument. To you, the musician, through this solo work, I hope you will continue to enjoy, explore, and embrace your instrument as you express an extension of yourself.
Love Letter to the Contrabassoon encourages, nurtures, and allows for a deepening of the unique and meaningful bond between a musician and their instrument. For many musicians, this kinship is very strong, lasting, and deeply personal. A study from the Society for the Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts finds that “Most musicians express a close relationship with their musical instrument. Some even consider their instrument as a part of themselves.”
Love Letter to the Contrabassoon is written for my friend and contrabassoonist, Julien Rollins. His dedication and profound connection to this instrument is always evident as I listen to him play and in each of our conversations. I hear his wish that more compositions were written for this resonant and expressive solo instrument.
Simoens, V. L., & Tervaniemi, M. (2013). Musician–instrument relationship as a candidate index for professional well-being in musicians. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 7 (2), 171–180. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030164.
Love Letter to the Contrabassoon
Commission: Julien Rollins, Contrabassoonist, Billings Symphony Orchestra
Premiere: Julien Rollins, Senior Recital: Julien Rollins '24, Bassoon. Brown Hall, New England Conservatory (Boston, MA).
Additional Performances: Julien Rollins, Composition Gala Concert. Lawrence and Alma Berk Hall, Berklee College of Music (Boston, MA); Julien Rollins, Tufts / NEC Senior Dual Degree Recital. Distler Hall, Tufts University (Medford, MA).
Program Notes
Love Letter to the Contrabassoon encourages, nurtures, and allows for a deepening of the unique and meaningful bond between a musician and their instrument. For many musicians, this kinship is very strong, lasting, and deeply personal. A study from the Society for the Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts finds that “Most musicians express a close relationship with their musical instrument. Some even consider their instrument as a part of themselves.”
Love Letter to the Contrabassoon is written for my friend and contrabassoonist, Julien Rollins. His dedication and profound connection to this instrument is always evident as I listen to him play and in each of our conversations. I hear his wish that more compositions were written for this resonant and expressive solo instrument. Inspired by Julien, Love Letter to the Contrabassoon is dedicated to Julien and to every contrabassoonist who is passionate about their instrument. To you, the musician, through this solo work, I hope you will continue to enjoy, explore, and embrace your instrument as you express an extension of yourself.
Simoens, V. L., & Tervaniemi, M. (2013). Musician–instrument relationship as a candidate index for professional well-being in musicians. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 7(2), 171–180. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030164.