William Comita was appointed Assistant Principal Cellist of the Richmond Symphony in 1979. He was a founding mem?ber of the Roxbury Chamber Players, and has performed with Currents and the Belle Arte String Quartet. He was recently appointed cellist of the Oberon String Quartet.

Mr. Comita received a Bachelor of Music degree from Lawrence University in Wisconsin. He earned his Master's degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with Steven Geber.

Recently, Mr. Comita participated in two recordings - "The Classical Banjo," and Bruce Hornsby's "Harbor Lights."

Program Notes

Margaret Brouwer has recently been appointed Composer in Residence for the Cleveland Institute of Music. She was Associate Professor of Music and Composer in Residence at Washington and Lee University until this past spring, and remains Composer in Residence for the Roanoke Symphony.

Ms. Brouwer's music has been performed by the St. Louis Symphony, the Juilliard Symphony, the San Francisco Women's Philharmonic, the Twentieth Century Consort, the Contemporary Music Forum, and other artists throughout the United States and Europe. She has received commission grants from the Virginia Commission for the Arts, WESTAF Meet the Composer, and Indian University, among others. Ms. Brouwer has also received residence grants from the Charles Ives Center for American Music, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and "June in Buffalo."

About "Skyriding", Margaret Brouwer wrote:
"After completing 'Skyriding' the music seemed to represent an enormous Disneyworld in the sky in which the first movement is a celestial water ride; the second, a song sung by the jinn (mythological spirits that influence man for good and evil); and the third, a raucous, rather earthy dance.
"The first movement...was planned according to a formula of combining notes that was inspired by James Gleick's book, 'Chaos' The form is created from a scientific description of the motion of the molecules making up flowing water. Interestingly, as the music was developing, it reminded me of water flowing gently but always continuously down a mountain sluice, turning, sometimes very quickly, in new directions as the sluice turns (sometimes sharply) to skirt natural obstructions. The pitch materials, however, seemed to create an unearthly atmosphere. Thus the movement began to sound to me like a water ride in a celestial amusement park.
"In this supernatural setting, the jinn would sing their Jinn Song with detachment from frivolity, while the Hard Knock Jam, with its percussive hammering and persistent beat, would be music rollicking in a cabaret set."

Recording: "Works by Allan Blank and Margaret Brouwer" (Centaur CRC 2138)

Aaron Copland wrote his "Duo for Flute and Piano" in 1970-71 on commission from friends and admirers of the American flutist William Kincaid (1895-1967). Kincaid was a protege of Georges Barrere, and was himself an influential teacher. The duo was first played by one of Kincaid's students, Elaine Schaffer, with Hephzibah Menuhin, in October 1971 in Philadelphia.

Copland offered the following comments about the "Duo":
"My 'Duo for Flute and Piano' is a work of comparatively simple harmonic and melodic outline, direct in expression, and meant to be grateful for the performer. (However, it needs a good player - no amateur could handle it). The first movement opens with a solo passage for flute. Before long, the music picks up momentum and, after what might be termed a development of the fast section, returns in reverse order to the music of the opening pages. The middle movement is the least complex, both formally (a three-part structure) and from the standpoint of melodic construction. I think it came off well because it has a certain mood that I connect with myself - a rather sad and wistful mood, I suppose. The last movement, in free form, is in strong contrast, because it is lively, bright, and snappy."

Recordings: CBS - M32737(LP) - Elaine Shaffer, Flute; Aaron Copland, Piano
Musicmasters MMD 60195A - "Paula Robison Plays American Masterworks" - Paula Robison, Flute; Timothy Hester, Piano

Peter Schickele is best known for his spoofs of "serious" classical music in the person of P.D.Q. Bach. He does, however, have a serious side as a composer, and his "Quartet" is one example of this side. Peter Schickele writes about his "Quartet": "Some pieces are launched and completed in one continuous flow of energy; others have a much longer gestation period. Sketches containing some of the material for the opening of the Quartet had been around for years, looking for the proper setting. An English friend of mine who was a member of a chamber group consisting of clarinet and piano trio, had told me that if I ever wrote anything for that combination, I should send it to him, and I tacked his group's brochure up on the wall next to my piano. It finally dawned on me that this was the instrumentation that my sketch book material was looking for. Even after that, it was a long time before the piece was finished. Two of the movements were written in the summer of 1979, but other projects with specific deadlines came along, and the work was put aside. Finally, my engagement as Composer-in-residence at Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, Oregon provided a deadline, and the other two movements were finished in the spring of 1982.

"The premiere took place on July 17, 1982; the tremendous performance...was the best birthday present a composer could ask for. The work is dedicated to my father, who was in the audience that evening. At one point during my teenage years, we tried to have a family 'orchestra' with my brother on violin, my mother on piano, and myself on bassoon; my father could rarely be coaxed into getting out his old flute, but his passionate love of serious music (and I do not use the term 'serious' in any superficial, record store department sense) had a greater, and better, influence on me than I suspected at the time (since he wouldn't let me listen to Spike Jones records while he was at home, I was perhaps a little bit rebellious about seriousness)."

There are currently three recordings of Peter Schickele's "Quartet" available.