New chamber music work by Todd Gabriel to premiere at Centenary
SHREVEPORT, LA — Dr. Todd Gabriel, associate professor of music composition at Centenary College, will have his latest chamber music work premiered as part of the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra (SSO)'s Noel Foundation Chamber Music Series. The free concert is Sunday, February 21, 2016 at 3:00 p.m. in Anderson Auditorium at the Hurley School of Music on the Centenary College campus.
The SSO's principal wind players, Sally Horak and Ann Shoemaker, join violist Adrienne Gabriel for the world premiere of Dr. Gabriel's Emerson Essays for flute, viola, and bassoon. The new three movement work is based on a quote from American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay on Nature. Emerson suggests that beauty in nature cannot touch one's soul until a poet, artist, or composer has interpreted it. The quote is organized into three movements: 1) Nothing divine dies, 2) The desire for beauty, and 3) The final cause of Nature.
Composer Gabriel has a diverse background in music, with 20 years of professional orchestra experience with the Alabama, Phoenix, and Queensland Symphonies and performance degrees from The Juilliard School, Louisiana State University and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Gabriel returned to school and received a doctorate in composition from the University of Arizona in 2003. Since then, he has established himself as a skillful, accessible composer writing in both spirited contrapuntal and sophisticated sound-mass styles.
The program also includes Weber's Trio in G Minor, Op. 63 and Martinu's Trio for Flute, Cello, and Piano performed by Sally Horak (flute), Ruth Drummond (cello), and Gay Grosz (piano).