PORT ANGELES — Three recorder-playing women, a new piece called “Woodland Sketches” and a selection of Baroque sonatas are all part of the fare today in a concert called “Wood’n’Flutes.”
In this 7 p.m. event, Vicki Boeckman, Gertie Johnsson and Pia Brinch Jensen will fill Maier Hall, the intimate venue at Peninsula College, with music old and young: the Baroque works plus “Sketches,” composed just last summer by the college’s music professor, David Jones.
Tickets for the concert at Maier Hall in the southeastern part of the campus at 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd. are $15 for general admission and $5 for students.
Jones said the inspiration for his piece sprang from two sources: the sound of the women’s ensemble and the North Olympic Peninsula where he lives.
“The incredible variety of sound and the beauty of execution by this recorder trio was absolutely stunning to me,” said Jones, also a jazz composer.
“I was particularly drawn to the lower instruments: the tenor, bass and great bass recorders,” he said.
But Jones didn’t set out to write a replica of Renaissance or Baroque recorder music.
Instead, “Woodland Sketches” is a “living, breathing exploration of the possibilities of these instruments,” with the wood in the title referring to what the recorders are made of and to the forests of the Peninsula.
Boeckman, Johnsson and Brinch Jensen have performed together in Europe since 1999. They made their American debut a decade ago.
Boeckman, after 23 years of playing and teaching in Denmark, moved to Seattle in 2005.
The three were determined, however, to keep performing together and have since appeared many times in Europe and the United States. Their repertoire spans more than 800 years while calling for recorders of all sizes and historical types. In concerts, the trio often interweaves music with poetry and other readings.
Boeckman is one of the leading recorder artists of her generation, Jones noted.
She moved from her native Los Angeles to Denmark in 1981 to study the recorder at the Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen and has performed throughout Scandinavia, the United States, England, Scotland and Germany.
She also appeared at Maier Hall last October with the trio Ensemble Electra.
These days Boeckman, along with her playing, teaches students such as Bea Dobyns of Port Angeles. Dobyns plays the recorder with the local Early Music Ensemble.
For more information, phone 360-417-6405 or visit www.pencol.edu.
Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
