The 2014 ROCO Chamber Series Presents FRENCH SALON, 4/27

River Oaks Chamber Orchestra concludes its 2013 - 2014 ROCO Chamber Series on Sunday, April 27 at 4 p.m. with a concert titled French Salonat Gremillion &Co. Fine Art Annex located at 2504 Nottingham. The performance, which showcases several French composers, incorporates works written for the oboe, bassoon and piano. The concert includes a co-commissioned premiere by John Steinmetz and music by Francis Poulenc, Theodore Lalliet and Stanislas Verroust. The performance features ROCO Founder, Artistic Director and Principal Oboist Alecia Lawyer, Principal Bassoonist Kristin Wolfe Jensen and PianistRodney Waters.

ROCO continues its commitment to living composers with a Houston premiere of Steinmetz's Duo for Oboe and Bassoon. Co-commissioned by a consortium of oboists and bassoonists, the piece world premiered at the 2011 International Double Reed Society Annual Conference.

A self-taught composer, Poulenc wrote Trio for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano to feature the oboe and bassoon as storytellers: creating a narrative tension at the beginning that develops into a soft pastorale and concludes with a joyful fanfare. Lalliet's Terzetto for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano, one of his few original works, is a lyrical piece that is designed to highlight the simplistic harmony between the oboe and bassoon. Verroust's Solo de Concert for Oboe and Piano is one of 12 oboe concertos and demonstrates a remarkable style and elegance influenced by the French opera.

Tickets for the event cost $25 for general admission, $10 for students. Tickets are available at the door or on www.rocohouston.org

Alecia Lawyer is the Founder, Artistic Director and Principal Oboist of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Lawyer was named a finalist for Texas Musician of the Year (along with Willie Nelson) and was listed as one of Houston's Top 50 Most Influential Women 2010. She has received numerous awards, including the Gutsy Gal Award from Houston Woman Magazine, the Sigma Alpha Iota Musician of the Year, and the Outstanding Chamber Orchestra Founder from the Houston Chronicle. She regularly presents her Entrepreneurial model and dynamic ideas to conservatories, universities and music festivals around the US such as Yale, SMU, Round Top and Texas Music Festival, showing ROCO as a case study for community-specific orchestral building.

Kristin Wolfe Jensen, renowned performer and teacher, has been the bassoon professor at The University of Texas at Austin since 1995, and is also on the faculty of the International Festival Institute at Round Top and Principal Bassoonist with the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra. In addition she has made a number of acclaimed solo and chamber music recordings. A reviewer in the American Record Guide said of Ms. Jensen's solo CD Shadings, "...She has simply turned in the finest-played bassoon recital I have ever heard....She obviously sees tone quality as the foundation for her fluent technique...It is a ravishing sound, siren-like in its attractive flair....Ms. Jensen could teach a lot about musicality to a number of famous violinists...."

Rodney Waters, pianist, is a core artist of DIVAS World Productions, an organization dedicated to philanthropy through music. DIVAS stands for Dedicated Innovative Variety Artists of Service. He has performed with the Houston Symphony, Musiqa, St. Cecilia Friends of Music, Da Camera, River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, and in venues including Carnegie Hall (New York), Orchestra Hall (Detroit), and Asahi Recital Hall (Tokyo). In 2003 Naxos released his recording with Curt Thompson of the complete Sonatas for Violin and Piano by Charles Ives to outstanding reviews from The New York Times, Gramophone Magazine and Strad Magazine.

About ROCO
ROCO is a professional chamber orchestra of 40 all-star musicians, distinguished guest conductors and dynamic composers who come together from all over the world to present engaging performances of classical and original compositions. Founded in 2005 by Principal Oboist Alecia Lawyer, ROCO has been calledthe most fun you can have with serious music. www.rocohouston.org

To post a comment, you must register and login.