A New Approach to Romanticism
Tallis Room
5:15pm - 5:45pm, Saturday 28 July, 2018

SOLO RECITAL - ALICE MORGAN

Strauss' Oboe Concerto was completed in 1945, and is a three-movement concerto originally for oboe and small orchestra. The inspiration for the work derived from John de Lancie, an American serviceman who was also a professional oboist. The work is known to be one of the more difficult concerti for the instrument, due to the extremely long phrases and technical demands.

There is no doubt that the oboe is the most lyrical of orchestral woodwind instruments, for orchestral works often feature beautiful oboe solos, filled with expression and vibrato. I find that the sonority of the soprano saxophone can be similar to that of the oboe, and often find myself performing works for oboe on the saxophone. I also believe that the lyrical quality of the soprano is often undermined, and can be just as captivating as any standard orchestral instrument. Performing the Strauss Oboe Concerto on soprano saxophone seems natural to me, and potentially a risk - but hopefully a risk that shows just how expressive soprano saxophone can be.

ALICE MORGAN
Alice Morgan has recently graduated with First Class Honours from her Bachelor of Music Performance in Saxophone at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, under the Board of Governors’ Annual Scholarship. Having won the Under 18 Saxophone category of the Australasian Clarinet and Saxophone Conference Competition in 2012, she began her studies at the Conservatorium the following year. Since then she has performed many times with orchestra, including with Sydney Youth Orchestra in their performance of Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast in 2014, and also for their European tour in 2017 for Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. In the same year, Alice was honoured to play as the soloist for Ibert’s Concertino da Camera with Ensemble Apex at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. She is performing with the Australian Youth Orchestra for their July season, which includes Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances and Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem.