Left Coast Chamber Ensemble presents To Schumann With Love

Left Coast Chamber Ensemble

The Left Coast Chamber Ensemble (LCCE) continues its 20th anniversary season with To Schumann With Love, a concert celebrating the romance of music in a special tribute to composer Robert Schumann and featuring Andrea Plesnarski and Tom Nugent, Left Coast's married pair of oboists. Schumann’s romantic Violin Sonata will be presented along with a piece composed by his wife Clara Schumann, Romances for Oboe and Piano, and a another by their dear friend Johannes Brahms, Intermezzo Opus 118, No. 2 in A major, transcribed for oboe, English horn and piano. To complement this trio, a contemporary tribute to the composer by will be performed. Aveux, Hommages à Schumann by Finnish composer Olli Kortekangas is a meditation on Schumann’s work featuring the oboe and strings.

With three works featuring the oboe, this concert provides the unique opportunity to showcase the talents of Andrea Plesnarski and Tom Nugent, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble’s married pair of oboists, who will play together in Brahms' Intermezzo, arranged for oboe, English horn and piano.

"Being married to another oboe player has been a wonderful journey on many levels,” said Tom Nugent of his wife and fellow LCCE oboist Andrea Plesnarski. “Like any musical couple, we have shared in each other's musical growth and have been a sounding board for ideas and concepts. This interchange keeps us evolving and has been great fun."

In connection to the Schumanns, Plenarski commented, “One analogous thing is the fact that Tom and I are married and play the same instrument, and Robert and Clara did too. When two people are together and share something like playing the same instrument there are some intrinsic things you understand about one another. Yet, even though you share something so similar, your experience with and your strengths and weaknesses often differ, leading to self-discovery and some frustration and jealousy. This concert gives us the opportunity to explore all of this."

To Schumann With Love also features the West Coast premiere of Ryan Carter’s "too many arguments in line 17"-- the winner of the LCCE 2012 composition contest. Carter’s work has been praised by the New York Times as "imaginative...like, say, a Martian dance party," and by the Milwaukee Express, for his "...contemporary feel for interesting, driving textures and counterpoint."