Red Cedar Chamber Music will finish its season with the last of 12 performances of “Reunion Redux” on Thursday, April 16, at the James Theatre in Iowa City.
The program was originally designed for guest violist Choong-Jin Chang, principal violist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Unfortunately, a health condition has prevented him from traveling. Fortunately for us, we arranged a different kind of reunion, one with our son, Oliver.
Oliver Bostian is no stranger to Red Cedar. He began performing with us on April 15, 2020, just a month into the pandemic lockdown. Along with his brother Adrian, we produced 12 livestreams in order to provide music for our audiences during a difficult time. Our sons also performed with us the following season on a program titled “Music by the Gross,” which featured young artists from all over the country, several of whom had worked with Red Cedar as high school students through our apprenticeship program, Chamber Music NOW.
Along with this set of concerts, Oliver joined us for a four-day residency at Francis Marion Intermediate in Marion, where we worked with all MISD third and fourth-grade students. These students were treated to much of the repertoire from Reunion Redux and shown how composers use various techniques to construct music and convey moods.
Oliver’s experience at the University of Iowa over the last five years has been exceptional. He has developed tremendously as a violinist and violist, studying with Professors Scott Conklin and Christine Rutledge, serving as both concertmaster and principal violist with the University of Iowa Symphony Orchestra. His chamber music studies have been with Elizabeth Oakes, who directs the UI Chamber Music residency program. The program has allowed Oliver to regularly work with some of the best string quartets in the world and it shows in his work with us.
Reunion Redux features the viola as soloist in Bach’s “Sonata” in G minor for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord Obligato with the violin and cello taking the right and left hands of the harpsichord part. Also on the program is the “String Trio” by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. Castelnuovo-Tedesco is familiar to Red Cedar audiences as he was one of the most prolific composers for guitar in the 20th century. (Red Cedar’s founders were a flutist and a guitarist.) His string trio, in three movements, is incredibly lyrical but closes with a very rhythmic and guitar-like Vivace.
Two living composers are featured on the program. Costa Rican clarinetist and composer Vinicio Meza has captured the Latin American style with his “Suite latinoamericana.” In four parts, it includes a tango, a waltz, a choro, and a son. We also commissioned our friend, Iowa City violist and composer Brian Lenth, to write a work for this concert. His new piece, “again and again and again,” is a rhythmically driving work that will leave the audience (and performers) breathless.
Please join us at the James Theatre on Thursday, April 16. Tickets are $30 for adults and $15 for students, available at thejamesic.com
Carey Bostian is the artistic director of Red Cedar Chamber Music and a proud dad.
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Catch Red Cedar Chamber Music’s ‘Reunion Redux’ in Iowa City | Music Column
Reporting by Carey Bostian, Special to the Press-Citizen / Ames Tribune
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