Universal Piston horn quartet--
having fun with classical music

Classical music, especially period music, is strongly associated with words such as “formal” and “serious.” But the Universal Piston horn quartet wants to change that perception.

The Maine member of the quartet, John Boden of Liberty, says the group hopes to win over local audiences by presenting “Piston a la Carte: An Evening of Late Romantic Salon Music.” This concert includes fun, enjoyable music – actually, popular music of the late 1800’s.

The Universal Piston quartet – which specializes in period music performed on natural and early valved horns – comes to the School of Music at the University of Southern Maine to perform in the 2007-2008 Spotlight Series. Their concert begins at 8 p.m. Friday, March 7, 2008, in Corthell Concert Hall on the USM Gorham campus. Tickets are $15 for the general public; $10 for seniors; and $5 for students. Call the Music Box Office at 780-5555 for reservations. Sponsors for this evening are Dahlia Lynn and Arthur Handman.

Performers include Boden, R.J. Kelley, Paul Avril, and Richard Seraphinoff – all nationally known early instrument players – with special guest, pianist Anastasia Antonacos of Portland. The program will include works by the featured composer, Anton Wunderer, an Austrian hornist/composer. 

“Wunderer was a member of the famous Josef Schantl Horn Quartet, so his intimate knowledge of the horn is felt in these well-written quartets,” notes Boden. “In his day, Wunderer was known as the ‘Johann Strauss’ of the horn quartet.”

The program will include several of his following works -- “Weiner Tanz,” “Kirch Tag,” “Meisterschutzen,” “Landler,” “Standchen,” “Gemsveilchen,” “Im Fluge,” “Ungarische Marsch,” and “Kuck Kuck” – as well as a special selection for four horns and piano, “Die Jagd” by Josef Richter.

Other works may include “Six Pieces” by Nicolas Tcherepnine; solo works by Oscar Franz, St. Saens, Franz Liszt, Vittorio Monti, and Charles Gounod; and selections from the American songbook, such as “Lida Rose” by Meredith Wilson, and “Something Old - The Old Soft Shoe” and “Something in Two – Vaudeville Chaser” both by Lowell E. Shall.

Boden says he’s thrilled to work with, and bring to Maine, the other three “amazing period instrument players” who make up the Universal Piston group. He explains that the idea for the group was born when the four horn players -- all four well-known experts in the musical world of early instruments – performed with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra of San Francisco. The concert contained music by Beethoven and Mendelssohn, requiring the horn section to perform on horns without valves, and then add valves for the Mendelssohn symphony. 

One day after a rehearsal for the concert, they got together at a local home, had dinner, and then played some fun music by Wunderer. The light, fun and happy music was perfect party music.

“For several evenings the quartet played late into the night,” recalls Boden. “Word got out within the orchestra of these nocturnal musings. So Philharmonia Baroque asked us to present the pre-concert talk, since this was the first time that PBO had used valved instruments. By the fourth evening, the pre-concert venue was filled to capacity and orchestra members were stopping by for a listen.” Eventually the four were asked to perform at the International Horn Society’s annual workshop. They realized they were on to something good and decided to record this music that so many had instantly loved. The CD is currently in production.

Boden explains a bit about their instruments. The evolution of the horn began centuries ago as an unvalved instrument. Then during the 1800’s (from 1820 to 1900 approximately) valved sections were developed which could be inserted into an existing horn. Some had two, some had three, valves that changed the pitch of the sound and were opened and closed by compressing small pistons with the fingers. By early 1900’s the modern instrument, with the valves built in, was finally accepted as the dominant form of the instrument.

Artist Biographies:

John C. Boden is currently Principal horn of the Portland Symphony Orchestra and an Associate Professor of Music at the USM School of Music, positions he has held since 1981. John is active as a freelance musician having performed with virtually all of the professional orchestras in New England, and in musicals in the theater districts in Boston and on Broadway in New York.  He is a long standing member of the Portland Brass Quintet and a member of the Kotchmar Brass. John currently performs on the classical, baroque and early valved horn as a member of the Handel & Haydn Society of Boston.  He has also performed with Boston Baroque, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Apollo’s Fire of Cleveland, Sante Fe Pro Musica, the Washington Bach Consort, the Aulos Ensemble and the American Bach Soloists.  He has performed with orchestras in Panama, Mexico City and in Germany. John and his family also perform with the Lincolnville Town Band. 

R.J. Kelley, a native of Detroit, resides in the New York area and has performed with such distinguished ensembles as the New York Philharmonic, New York City Opera, New York City Ballet, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Orpheus, the Aspen Wind Quintet and others.  He is equally comfortable touring with Branford Marsalis and Orpheus, appearing on Saturday Night Live with Puff Daddy and Jimmy Page, giving Bach’s inimitable Quoniam under the direction of the world’s leading conductors of historically informed performances, or playing the Carnivale di Venezia with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. He currently serves as principal horn of Phillharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Santa Fe Pro Musica, Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra, American Classical Orchestra (Conneticut), Portland (Oregon) Baroque Orchestra, and the Washington (D.C.) Bach Consort. He has performed at such festivals as the Edinburgh Festival, the BBC Proms-London, Mostly Mozart/Lincoln Center, Berkeley (CA) and Boston Early Music Festivals, Ravinia, Tanglewood, Blossom Festival, Gottingen Handel Festival, Brighton Festival (UK) and the Montreux-Detroit Jazz Festival. He has been a guest artist of many foreign ensembles such as, the Royal Court Theater Orchestra at Drottningholm (Sweden), Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Musica Antiqua St. Petersburg, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, CBC Vancouver, Korean Chamber Ensemble, Mexico City Philharmonic, and many others. He can be heard on over 50 CDs, including one nominated for a Grammy Award this year. 

Paul Avril lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. After earning a music degree from Boston University, Paul joined the Marine Band in Washington D.C., where he also worked as a free-lance horn player. At the time, he became involved with the natural horn. Period instrument performance led him to San Francisco where he joined the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. Paul has performed the baroque and classical horn throughout the United States and in Europe. He regularly performs with Sante Fe Pro Musica, the American Bach Soloists, and the Portland Baroque Orchestra of Oregon. 

A native of Detroit, Michigan, Richard Seraphinoff holds degrees in horn performance from Wayne State University and Indiana University. In 1986 he was appointed to the faculty of the Indiana University School of Music, where he teaches modern valve horn and natural horn. He was the winner of the 1984 Erwin Bodky Early Music Competition and the 1981 Heldenleben Horn Competition. As a modern horn player he has performed with the Detroit Symphony and Toledo Symphony Orchestras and the Michigan Opera Theater. As a Natural Hornist, he has performed with virtually every Baroque and Classical orchestra in the U.S., including the Boston Early Music Festival, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, the Grande Bande, Concert Royal, and Mozartean Players of New York, the Boston Handel and Haydn Society, the Portland Baroque Orchestra of Oregon, Seattle Baroque Orchestra, The City Musick and Basically Bach of Chicago, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra of San Francisco, Opera Lafayette of Washington D.C., and the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra. He has appeared as soloist at the Aston Magna Festival, with the Vancouver CBC Orchestra, Bloomington Early Music Festival Orchestra, and with La Stagione and Ensemble Metamorphosis in Germany. He has given lectures and master classes and appeared as guest recitalist at both early music and modern brass workshops in the United States and Europe; has written articles for the Historic Brass Society Journal, the Horn Call, and several other journals; and has appeared on numerous recordings. He is also a well-known maker of historical reproductions of Baroque and Classical Natural Horns. Since 1993, he has given summer workshops in Natural Horn history and performance at Indiana University, which are attended by horn players from around the world. 
 
Dr. Anastasia Antonacos, piano, has given notable performances around the world as a solo recitalist and chamber musician.  She has played at venues such as the Salle Cortot, Casa Orfeo, Holland’s Alkmaar Conservatory, and Alice Tully Hall.  She has also played in Greece, Russia, France and Belgium, as well as various places in the U.S., including Washington D.C., where she testified for funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. She has made solo appearances with the Portland and Bangor Symphonies and has collaborated with members of the Vermeer and Cassatt Quartets.  She holds the master’s and doctoral degrees in piano performance from Indiana University.  She is a founding member of the Bayside Trio and Harlequine, and she teaches at the University of Southern Maine, as well as Bates and Bowdoin Colleges.