Events & Calendars Adjunct Recital: “Bringing the Outdoors In” with Jean Jeffries, horn

Jean Jeffries, baroque, classical and modern horn
Joshua Michal, classical and modern horn
Clifton J. Noble '83, piano

The recital is free and open to the public. No tickets are required.

Opening with a baroque horn call written in the 1730s by Louis XV and moving through time to a 21st-century work so new the ink is still drying, Jean Jeffries’ hour-long recital carries the audience across centuries of sparkling horn literature. From works written to be played outdoors to compositions featuring water sprites and wildebeests, the recital promises bring the light and color of an autumn afternoon into the evening concert hall.

The opening call is followed by five lively hunting horn duets played on natural horns (without valves) with Joshua Michal, assistant professor of horn at the University of Massachusetts, and Clifton J. Noble ’83, staff pianist at Smith College, join Jeffries to conclude the first half of the program with Beethoven’s Sonata for Piano and Horn (Opus 17), an equal interaction between horn—in all its classical glory—and piano.

After a brief intermission, the program continues with “Prelude,” a mournful song for solo horn by hornist and composer Emory Waters ’69, followed by “Intrada,” a sequel to the prelude. The centerpiece of the second half is the world premiere of a new work for horn and piano by pianist Noble, titled “The Rusalka” after the unfinished poem by Alexander Pushkin. The concert concludes with Gina Gillie’s “The Great Migration,” an entertaining and energetic piece for two horns and piano.

For more information about this concert, contact the Amherst College Concert Office at 413/542-2195 or concerts@amherst.edu.