The Inner Light

Darius Milhaud (Marsella, Francia, 4 de septiembre de 1892 – Ginebra, 22 de junio de 1974) fue un compositor francés. Su obra se caracteriza por el empleo de la politonalidad (varias tonalidades simultáneas), así como de patrones rítmicos derivados del jazz.
Comenzó a los siete años a estudiar violín con Leo Bruguier, que lo incorporó a su cuarteto de cuerda. Ingresó en el Conservatorio de París en 1909. Fue alumno de Berthelier (violín), X. Leroux (armonía), André Gedalge (contrapunto), Paul Dukas y Vincent d'Indy (dirección de orquesta) y Charles-Marie Widor (fuga).
En 1910 escribió una ópera cómica basada en un libreto de Francis Jammes titulado Brebis égarée (oveja descarriada). Más adelante se vio atraído por la música de cámara. Su 1ª Sonata para violín y piano data de 1911 y su primer Cuarteto de cuerda fue escrito en 1912. Conoció al poeta Paul Claudel, del que musicó alguno de sus poemas. Entre sus amigos estaban Georges Auric y Arthur Honegger.
En 1916 viaja a Brasil como secretario de Paul Claudel, entonces embajador. En este viaje Milhaud escribe las Saudades du Brazil, la suite para saxofón, Scaramouche, con su destacado tercer movimiento Brasileira, Le Bœuf sur le toit y el poema coreográfico L’Homme et son desir. En 1918 regresa a Francia y entabla amistad con Erik Satie y con los músicos del Grupo de los Seis.
Durante los siguientes años la actividad creadora de Milhaud es incesante: cantatas, conciertos, canciones, obras corales se suceden en rápida cadencia. Se casó con su prima Madeleine, que a partir de 1937 sería su colaboradora en varias obras. Hizo numerosos viajes y ofreció conciertos en todos los países de Europa.
En 1940 se trasladó a Estados Unidos al recibir el encargo de una sinfonía para la orquesta de Chicago. Allí permaneció hasta 1947 donde trabajó como profesor de composición en el Mills College de Oakland, California, donde tuvo como alumnos, entre otros, al músico de jazz Dave Brubeck. Abandonó este puesto para trabajar como profesor honorario de composición en el Conservatorio de París, donde tuvo como discípulos a Iannis Xenakis y a Karlheinz Stockhausen.
En 1952 viajó a Israel, donde escribió parte de su ópera David.
En 1965 su catálogo estaba integrado por 409 obras, pequeñas y grandes, escritas para todos los géneros musicales. De entre todas éstas destacan los ballets Le bœuf sur le toit (1920) y La Création du Monde (estrenado por los Ballets Suecos en 1923), la ópera Christophe Colomb (1930) y la pieza orquestal Suite provençale (1937).

Karl Kaiser studied at the Colleges of Music in Cologne and Münster. Parallel to this he also studied theology, philosophy and musicology at the universities in Bonn and Cologne, ultimately deciding on a musical profession. Since then he has made an excellent name for himself as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician in the area of historically informed performance techniques.
After gaining wide-ranging and inspiring experience in the most varied of orchestras and groups for historical music, Karl Kaiser now concentrates on a few complementary ensembles. He has been a flautist at the Camerata Cologne for almost 30 years, with worldwide concerts and more than 50 CDs covering a large part of the Baroque and early classical chamber music.
He has been a member and flautist of the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra for many years and is constantly underway worldwide with this ensemble as an orchestral musician and soloist. Karl Kaiser is also a founding member and flautist of the La Stagione orchestra in Frankfurt under Michael Schneider. Karl Kaiser plays early Romantic chamber music with Petra Müllejans (violin) and Sonja Prunnbauer (guitar) on original instruments in the trio Sérénade à Trois.
Karl Kaiser is an enthusiastic and all-embracing teacher. He is Professor for Historical Flutes and Performance Techniques at the College of Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt and at the College of Music in Freiburg. He regularly gives master courses and holds presentations on performance techniques of the 18th century. He has published articles in newspapers and a book of his, Fundamental Knowledge of Baroque Music was published by the con brio Verlag. Karl Kaiser sees his teaching activities as being within a higher-ranking framework – beyond the pure communication of skills.

Paul Wåhlberg teaches flute at the world’s northernmost music academy in Tromsø, Norway, and lives in the tiny community of Godfjord. He was trained in Göteborg, Zürich and The Hague, and has since performed extensively, specializing in early instruments. He was one of the founders of the Norwegian Baroque Orchestra, which has been touring most of Europe. With this ensemble he has recorded music by Bach and the Norwegian eighteenth century composer Johan Henrik Freithoff. He also founded the group Musica Domestica which has appeared throughout Great Britain and Scandinavia.

Jed Wentz began his flute studies with Walter Mayhall in Youngstown, Ohio, and continued studying with James Walker in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He studied modern and historical flutes at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music with Robert Willoughby and Michael Lynn, and received a Soloist's Diploma from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague after three years with Barthold Kuijken. He has performed and recorded with groups such as Musica Antiqua Koln, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Capriccio Stravagante Paris and the Gabrielli Consort. In 1992 he founded Musica ad Rhenum, with whom he has recorded more than 20 CDs both as flutist and conductor. His recording of the complete flute sonatas of Locatelli was awarded the prize for the Best Recording of Italian Music 1995 by the Fondazione Cini Venetia. Mr. Wentz teaches at the Amsterdam Conservatory of Music, and lectures regularly on performance practice at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He has published articles in Early Music, Concerto, and Tijdschrijft voor Oude Muziek. He is pursuing his doctorate through Leiden University, with his research centering on the relationship between 18th-century staging and tempo in the tragedie en musique.

Susan Milan ARCM PG, GSMD, FRCM, is an English Professor of flute of the Royal College of Music, classical performer, recording artiste, composer, author and entrepreneur.

Biography

Susan Milan was born in London, the daughter of civil servants. Between 1958-63, she became a Junior Exhibitioner at the Royal College of Music. During 1960 to 1966, she was a member of the London Schools Symphony Orchestra. From 1963 to 1967, she was a scholar of the Royal College of Music, graduating with honours, where she later become a Professor of Flute in 1984. From 1966-72, she attended Marcel Moyse master classes in Boswil. In 1967, she was awarded a Countess of Munster Scholarship to study as a Post Graduate under Geoffrey Gilbert at the Guildhall School of Music. After graduation in 1968, she was invited to become Principal Flute of the Bournemouth Sinfonietta. In 1974, she made musical history by being appointed the first woman principal and member of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra where she remained for eight years. Since then she has sustained a multi-dimensional career as an orchestral guest principal, chamber musician, soloist, recording artiste, composer, author, musicologist, teacher, lecturer and entrepreneur. In 2001, she was appointed Artistic Director of Woodwind for the Evergreen Orchestra, Taiwan. In 2007, she was appointed Adjunct Professor of Music at Henan University, China, and founded the Charterhouse International Music Festival for outstanding young musicians.

Activities

In 1979, Milan released her first solo recording on the ASV label. This was followed in 1981 by a second solo recording on the Hyperion label, and contracts with Chandos (1990) and Upbeat (1990). 1997 saw the issue of the Master Classics Archive Series of historic flute recordings featuring Milan. Described as the “Queen of the Flute” by journalist Huang Hua, Milan has recorded concertos, duos and chamber music recitals for the Hyperion, Da Capo, Omega, Cala, Metier and ASV labels. She has further recorded more than a dozen recordings of concertos and recitals for the Chandos label including three collections of French repertoire. She has also made recital recordings of French Impressionist composers (Saint-Saëns, Debussy, Boulanger, Ibert, Dutilleux, Poulenc and Feld) for Upbeat Records and Master Classics.
Her most recent recording of contemporary British works for flute and piano, with the pianist Andrew Ball, was released on the Metier label in 2008. She has also recorded the Schmidt Concerto by Ole Schmidt with Schmidt conducting, for the Da Capo label. In 2010, she began recording the Simpson Concerto for Hyperion.
Recent commissions have included a concerto from the American composer Keith Gates, “Oiseau Soleil” for flute and piano by the French composer Jean Sichler, “The Moon Dances” by the British composer Cecilia McDowall, “Sonata” by British composer Brian Lock and “Octagon” by British composer Ian Finney. Her accompanist, pianist Ian Brown has worked with Schering, Rostropovich, Galway and other famous classical musicians.

Performances

In the UK, Milan has performed as a Principal Flute and soloist with all the major orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, English Chamber Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia, English String Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, BBC Scottish Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Welsh Orchestra, Philomusica of London, New London Orchestra and Haydn Festival Orchestra. In her a career as an orchestral guest principal, chamber musician, soloist, teacher and lecturer, she has often featured on the BBC.
She has given numerous UK and world premieres, touring frequently throughout Europe, US, Australia and the Far East.[2] Milan has given solo appearances in Holland, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, US, Hong Kong, Slovenia, Spain, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Milan has also given convention performances in Australia, Costa Rica, Germany, Hungary, Slovenia, Spain, the UK and the US (Washington, Boston, New York, Phoenix, Las Vegas).

Repertoire

Performing music from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, Milan specialises in the Baroque, classical, romantic, impressionist, contemporary periods. As well as a wide repertoire of recital and chamber music, she performs solo works by J. S. Bach, Hofmann, Khatchaturian, Mozart, Saint-Saëns and Vivaldi, with orchestra, as well as works by C. P. E. Bach, Carl Nielsen, Ibert, Jolivet, Reinecke, Stamitz and Telemann. She has also inspired contemporary composers to write for her, including Richard Rodney Bennett, Antal Dorati, Carl Davis, Chaminade, Frank Martin, Malcolm Arnold, Jindrich Feld, Edwin Roxburgh, Robert Saxton, Ole Schmidt, Robert Simpson and Cecilia McDowall.

Ensembles

In the chamber music field, she formed The London Chamber Music Group (featuring flute, oboe, violin, viola, cello, piano and harp). With members of the group, she recorded the chamber music of Eugene Goossens for the Chandos label. She has also performed with The Debussy Ensemble, Weber Ensemble and Milan-Ball Duo. Susan formed the Milan Trio, with her second son, cellist Christopher Jepson, and the pianist Andrew Ball, and performs with the Instrumental Quintet of London, for flute, string trio and harp, with Nicholas ward, Matthew Jones, Sebastian Somberti and Ieuan Jones.

Academic field

In 1992, Milan researched and published 19th century repertoire for Boosey & Hawkes. Several technical books followed including two technical scale books in 2000, and a handbook of programme notes, for flute performers in 2006. She is presently restoring a collection of historic [78”] recordings of flautists from 1910–1945, to be issued on the Master Classics label. She has given Master Classes in Australia (Adelaide); Germany (Berlin); China, (Beijing and Hong Kong); Germany (Weikersheim); Italy (Naples); Japan (Nagoya and Tokyo); Slovenia; South Africa; South Korea (Seoul); Spain; Switzerland (Ticino Festival); the UK (Charterhouse, Jackdaws and West Dean); and the US.

Achievements

In 1960, Milan was presented with the Royal College of Music's Evekisch Prize by Sir Malcolm Sargeant. In recognition of her achievements, she was elected President of the British Flute Society in 1990 until 1995. She was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal College College in November 1999 which was presented to her by HRH Prince Charles. Milan is listed in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Who’s Who in Music, and is a Patron of GAMPA, BASBWE and the Association of Woodwind Teachers.