General Information about Escher Keys

A bassoon concerto inspired by the artwork of MC Escher made possible by a generous ATLAS grant from the Louisiana Board of Regents.  “Escher Keys” explores the interactive possibilities between the bassoon, an instrument lacking in repertoire, and the orchestra, investigating the ideas of negative and positive space and illusion. The endurance and athleticism of the bassoon soloist is heavily explored; the soloist will be able to choose from multiple versions of the work with four optional cadenzas, each from a different vantage point, to create evolving interpretations with each player and performance.  “We adore chaos because we love to produce order.”

Instrumentation in three movements with four optional candenzas:

Bassoon soloist plus 2222-1111-3 percussionists, 66442

Percussion details: timpani, vibraphone, marimba (5 octave), crotales, glockenspiel, suspended cymbal, guiro, wind chimes, wood blocks (high, middle, low), rain stick

Duration (without cadenzas): 18 minutes

Featuring the Three Worlds Symphony Orchestra including LSU faculty, select students and members of the the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra and LPO:

Featured soloist, Darrel Hale

Conductor, Scott Terrell

Flutes: Rachel Ciraldo and Lea Baumert

Oboes: Galite Kaunitz and Keenan Smith

Clarinets: Tyler Bourque and Thomas Kim

Bassoons: Natasha Pizarro and Ana Lee Milligan

Trumpet: Matthew Vangjel

Horn: Seth Orgel

Trombone: Hana Beloglavec

Tuba: Charlie Goodman

Percussion: Brett Dietz, Dustin Haigler, Ty Ellender

Harp: Gabriela Werries

Violins 1: Espen Lilleslatten, Rafael Galvan Herrera, Xiangwei Sun, Taeyoung Yun, Chia-Shan Hso, Juilianna Schober

Violins 2: Lin He, Hanna Panamarenka, Nicole Fassold, Aaron Gonzalez, Sergio DeLaPoza

Violas: Kim Sparr, Chris Lowry, Catherine Chen, Emma Wood

Cellos: Molly Goforth, Eduard Teregulov, Katie DeLaMare, Jose Romero-Ottonello

Basses: Yung-chiao Wei and John Madere

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