Let the deep resonances, driving grooves, and soaring melodies of ten bass clarinets envelope you and transport you into the past, present, and future!
ABOUT THE PROGRAM:
The FPC Music Committee hosts the Improbable Beasts bass clarinet ensemble, presenting a program spanning centuries, continents, and genres. The music ranges from the 12th-century Gregorian chant of Hildegard von Bingen, to choral music of baroque composer Henry Purcell, to arrangements of string quartets by 20th-century composers Béla Bartók and Samuel Barber, to African-American spirituals, to the avant-folk-metal-klezmer Finnish band Alamaailman Vasarat, to original compositions by bandleader Jonathan Russell that draw on classical, klezmer, heavy metal, blues, and more!
Suggested donation: $5–$40. Donations collected at the door or in advance at Eventbrite.com.
ABOUT IMPROBABLE BEASTS:
Improbable Beasts is a Boston-based professional bass clarinet ensemble dedicated to bringing the deeply expressive power of multiple bass clarinets before a broad audience. Our repertoire ranges from Gregorian chant to Renaissance choral music to brand-new compositions to klezmer tunes and holiday songs. Our mission is to share the deep resonances, soaring lyricism, and propulsive grooves of bass clarinet ensemble music with as many people as we can.
The members of Improbable Beasts are some of the most sought-after clarinetists in the Boston area, regularly appearing with groups such as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops Orchestra, Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, Boston Lyric Opera, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and numerous regional orchestras, new music groups, and chamber ensembles.
Improbable Beasts’ founder and leader, Jonathan Russell, has two decades of experience inventing and performing music for bass clarinet(s). He was a longtime member of the Edmund Welles bass clarinet quartet, which channeled the ecstatic power of heavy metal through the deep resonances of four bass clarinets. He is a member, with Jeff Anderle, of the Sqwonk bass clarinet duo, which for the past 15 years has been creating a new repertoire of vital new music for two bass clarinets. Jon is also a seasoned composer and arranger, with a vast catalog of works for orchestras, choirs, chamber ensembles, and wind bands. With the creation of Improbable Beasts, he can now realize the richly-textured, harmonious, ferocious bass clarinet ensemble music of his dreams.
Music at FPC
First Parish Church of Stow & Acton
353 Great Road, Stow, MA 01775
