Flagstaff Arizona July 2024 - Lonarc returns to perform at this summers IDRS convention by Joseph Sanders

making a promo film

Washed and polished and ready for Michael Whight to film/record clips of our Arizona IDRS pieces, Judy, Adrian Rowlands, Michael Elderkin and I, Lonarc’s USA Team, met up two days before at The Warehouse/Waterloo. We were joined by Edwin Roxburgh, who’d been supporting us so enthusiastically through the challenges of learning Shadow-Play over the previous weeks. ‘In conversation’, Edwin gave a fascinating personal account of the broader context and specific process of composing this extraordinary trio.

We’ve put it together as a short promo film to give a flavour of the wonderful music we were taking to America.

Lonarc back on the road

20 July Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 Wetherspoons: bubbles and English breakfast! Our bags were packed with clothes for the Arizona heat, alongside Johann Went’s delicious Quartetto and Edwin Roxburgh’s virtuosic Shadow-Play for Oboe Trio. Our journey begins!

nearly didn’t make it!

Our first stop was Dallas Airport. Judy pressed relentlessly through the check in queue for our connection to Flagstaff, the 3 of us following in her wake, apologising to all the gracious souls who let us push to the front of the ginormous line. We literally ran to the gate, and just made it, phew!

Hello Arizona

Flagstaff is 8 hours behind London, so the jet lag was intense, as were the altitude, the daytime heat and digs with no-air con.

Somehow we made it through these challenges, Adrian and I helped by a well stocked drinks trolley and evenings spent laughing off the stresses of the day on our rehearsal room sofas. That room, by the way, had a superb view of Flagstaff’s iconic mountains.We also bought a teapot from Walmart as well as herbal teas, honey, yoghurt, cream cheese and crackers....JP

meals in the canteen

We had our meals together in the canteen, joined most days by at least 1000 Mormons, or so it seemed. Nice to chat with other IDRS conference people of course. Take Big Kevin from Florida, whose big hugs set you up for the whole day. Now, have you ever heard 30 contras all playing together? We have, and now you can too...here is a short video of Kevin conducting their glorious performance.

And there was unstoppable Liz, fuelled by Diet Cokes and a deep-seated love for playing the oboe always so caring, generous, supportive, supplier of funds and coffees, photocopying and there at all our concerts and sound checks. Thanks Liz! Went Quartetto video taken by Liz on her iphone JP

meal out with the gang

Monday evening, my friend Stephen Caplan drove us all out to a pizza restaurant. I remember tequilas all round gave an extra swing to our dinner. This is the sort of thing conferences are for, reconnecting and chatting with old friends, plus making new ones too. Stephen is the principal oboist in Las Vegas Philharmonic and author of Oboemotions And after 13 years, I was able to meet up again with fellow Cor Anglais players Margaret and Lauren, whom I had first met on a Carolyn Hove Masterclass in Columbus, Georgia , which was lovely. We will try and stay more in touch via Skype. JP

Most of the rest of the time we worked hard on our concert repertoire.

Any spare time went to listening to a few of the many concerts, or to hanging around the trade hall and chatting to manufacturers - T.W. Howarth’s were there of course, always great to see Mike Britten and Gordon Hunt too, carrying his Honorary IDRS Award.

Well done Gordon! Renaud invited us all to the Marigaux party on Tuesday, thank you Renaud. We love you.

Lonarc on the World Stage again

Wednesday night we performed Edwin’s Shadow-Play in the gala concert. The piece before us was a serene, 17th century pavane for bassoon and continuo and the contrast of Edwin’s opening hushed double trills, the shimmering clouds of multi phonics, the virtuosic interplay of cascading notes and more chords, and the 1st oboe often riding high and intense over the top, could not have been more extreme. The audience roared their appreciation for Edwin’s glittering music, and (I like to imagine) the results our very hard work. Go us!

Excerpt from a review that will be published in full in the forthcoming Double Reed News by Dr Stephan Caplan

"Roxburgh masterfully exploits multi-phonic sounds to create textural variation and to more clearly delineate the shifting harmonic structure. The Lonarc Oboe Trio gave a nuanced performance that was expressive and engaging. The large audience of supportive double reed players responded to this finely crafted presentation with a thunderous ovation."

Thursday we performed Johann Went’s almost unknown and beautiful Quartetto Concertante in Bb major. I’d particularly enjoyed spending time in the close company of Went, as Michael and I, working with original manuscript parts from the Czech Republic, carefully prepared an ‘urtext’ score and parts in London.

A classic Flagstaff hail thunderstorm was brewing just before we hit the stage, breaking as we played the first movement, and the pressure at 7,000ft altitude was unfortunatly very effective at closing off the bottom of ones lungs JP

Road Trip to the Grand Canyon

Friday and free at last to roam, after the intense work of the past 5 days! Michael, who switched from playing the bassoon to driving us round Arizona, picked up our fabulously air-conditioned hire car from the airport with Judy. Yay! Adrian and I piled in the back seat and we headed south to gorgeous Sedona, a popular tourist spot set amongst weirdly-wonderful shaped mountains.

After lunch at Chipotle—Michael recommended the guacamole—we headed north towards the Grand Canyon National Park. We passed through a spectacularly noisy hail storm and really thought the windscreen was a gonna. We survived. Then, allelujah, our cabins in the pines had fabulously comfortable beds and fabulously cool air-con. Paradise at last! Brief siesta.

About 7pm we headed up to the canyon itself, parked the car, and walked towards the south rim nearby. Suddenly the vast sweeping space of the canyon fell away in front of us, the evening haze coloured by the pink, peach and copper light of the setting sun, an awesome spectacle. Judy had booked us in for a posh dinner at El Tovar, a vintage 1920’s log-cabin-style hotel & restaurant close by. Then we headed back to our forest cabins for a well earned and very comfortable night’s sleep. Ah, bliss!

Saturday, road trip day two.

After breakfast next morning and check out, we got the shuttle bus back up to the Grand Canyon, now sizzling under the hot Arizona sun. We strolled along the south rim of the canyon, taking in the extraordinary geological time journey that the river took to carve its way through the rocks. The views from the South Rim are indescribable, mainly because the spatial dimensions are so vast and strange.

Look back and there are miles and miles of flat plateau, turn around to the canyon and you’re look down into a gigantic emptiness, and the Colorado river far far far below. Reaching the end of the South Rim, before the path then started to descend, we decided to stop for mid-morning refreshments at El Tovar and after an espresso martini, I headed towards the rocking chairs on the porch—that ultimate icon of the American veranda.

Refreshed we set off again descending down Angel Path, an old donkey path that led all the way to the canyon itself. On the way down Judy bought a book about the history of the Grand Canyon at the Kolb Studio, perched precariously on the edge of the Canyon. It was monstrously hot by this time, Judy stopped at some point for a rest, Michael, Adrian and I carried on down a bit further. Then time to return back up in search of more refreshments, picking up Judy on the way. Once back at the top she went off in search of an icecream parlour and Adrian, Michael and I headed for the cocktail bar at the back of the Angel Hotel gift shop. Time for an espresso martini, our waitress entertaining us with endlessly repeating ‘you got it!’ which had tickled us ever since we heard the phrase on the Dallas to Flagstaff flight. Getting the shuttle bus back to our hotel (car, luggage and instruments which had been safely store in the hotel lobby) we bumped into the bassoonist Nanci Belmont and her husband (an oboist). Nanci had performed in the same Chamber Music Gala Concert as we had, playing Roxanna Panufnik's 'Cantator and Amander'. It was a truly beautiful performance with great poise and grace. JP

Back in the car, we headed for Williams, because my friend Sharon Williams pointed it out on the map; we did a photo op by the town sign, I bought a fabulous Grand Canyon blanket in the gas station, and we reached Motel 6 (PETS FREE) by about 6pm. The clerk at reception was definitely a serial killer, and there was a dog show in town, which explained all the dogs.

Early morning get out, and the long journey home!

We had an 8 hour stopover in Dallas Fort Worth airport - which luckily had a good wine bar. Back down from the high altitude, like the Colorado River feeling more comfortable on lower plains, I finally felt able to enjoy a drink. Cheers and thanks to everyone for their fab playing and hard work. JP

Back in Business

Lastly, a massive shout out and round of well deserved applause to Judy! She masterminded this entire Arizona project, spending months tirelessly planning, budgeting and organising to get Lonarc Oboe Trio back on the road and out on the World Stage again after Covid lockdowns.

Judy always has big plans!

Our next concert is Sunday 10 November 2024 3pm at Swedenborg Hall, Bloomsbury in London WC1A. It is the annual Lonarc Foundation Fund-Raising Concert. We shall be playing Went’s Quartetto Concertante in Bb major , Edwin Rozburgh’s virtuosic Shadow-Play plus Went's Partita in Bb Major for Schwarzenberg Harmonie Octet (2 Oboes, 2 Cor Anglais, 2 Horns and 2 Bassoons) and Triebensee's Oboe Trio in C major. The encore, (which we’ll play whatever happens) is Gary Carpenter’s masterful arrangement of Leroy Anderson’s 1948 gem Saraband , for 2 Oboes, 2 Cor Anglais, 2 Horns and 2 Bassoons. The first commission from the Lonarc Foundation.