Aberration | Rachael Elliott, bassoon & Andy Kozar, trumpet | faculty recital

“Aberration”—Essentially, an instance of deviating from a standard, or “normal” state. What is a bassoon and trumpet recital if not the very definition of an “aberration?”  But why? Why should bassoon & trumpet be any less valid a combination than violin & cello? A flute & clarinet?

Well Paul Hindemith certainly agreed. Centering around his 1949 Concerto for Trumpet and Bassoon, Longy faculty Rachael Elliott (bassoon) and Andy Kozar (trumpet) join forces to present this work, in addition to works for solo bassoon by Brad Balliett and Elliott Carter, world premieres for trumpet and electronics by Taylor Brook and Ryan Garvey (Longy student), and an adaptation of a work by Eve Beglarian for trumpet, bassoon, and electronics. Join us and watch an aberration become a new normal.

Concerto for Trumpet and Bassoon (1949) – Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)
Rachael Elliott, bassoon; Andy Kozar, trumpet; Jonathan Shin, piano (Longy graduate)

Retracing (2002) by Elliott Carter (1908-2012)
Rachael Elliott, bassoon

Aberration (2018) by Taylor Brook (1985) 
Andy Kozar, trumpet

Impromptu (2019) by Brad Balliett (1982)
Rachael Elliott, bassoon

social salience (2019) by Ryan Garvey (Longy Student) (1993)
Andy Kozar, trumpet

Minuet III and IV (2016) by Brad Balliett (1982)
Rachael Elliott, bassoon

Osculati Fourniture (2007) by Eve Beglarian (1958)
Rachael Elliott, bassoon; Andy Kozar, trumpet

Hailed as “one of the sharpest executors of new-music currently on the scene” (WQXR) and an “intrepid bassoonist” (Time Out New York), Rachael Elliott explores compelling new directions as a bassoon soloist and chamber artist.

Elliott is a versatile performer who is active in classical, new music, improvised and rock/pop settings. She is a founding member of the genre-bending new music group, Clogs, with whom she has recorded five acclaimed albums and appeared throughout the United States, Europe and Australia, sharing the stage with such renowned musicians as Bang on a Can, Bell Orchestre, The Books, The National, Terry Riley, Sufjan Stevens and Shara Nova/My Brightest Diamond.

She is also a founding member of Dark in the Song, Rushes Ensemble, Tuple bassoon duo, and Heliand Consort, a Vermont based classical group. She is principal bassoonist of the Burlington Chamber Orchestra and a substitute bassoonist with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. Elliott was previously principal bassoonist and bassoon soloist with the Collegium Musicum in Juelich, Germany.

A proponent of new music, Elliott has premiered works by Amy Beth Kirsten, Bryce Dessner, Paul Lansky, Ingram Marshall, Padma Newsome, Thomas L. Read, and Beth Wiemann, among others. Her debut CD, Polka the Elk, contains world premiere recordings of bassoon music by David Lang, Padma Newsome and Tawnie Olson. The album was selected as WQXR’s Q2 Album of the Week following its release and has been described as “an engaging, eclectic mix of contemporary music” by Cleveland Classical and “a charismatic exploitation of a chamber group’s nimbleness” by PopMatters.

Originally from Lyndon, Vermont, her earliest musical memories include hearing her father practice piano at night as she was falling asleep and later studying piano herself, before picking up the alto saxophone in middle school. “Saxophonists are a dime a dozen” was the refrain of her piano teacher who encouraged her to try the bassoon…and the rest is history. Her musical mentors have included Nancy Hartswick, John Padden, and bassoonists Janet Polk and Frank Morelli. She received bassoon performance degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and the Yale School of Music.

A native of Pittsburgh, Andy Kozar is a New York City based trumpeter, improviser, composer and educator that has been called a “star soloist” by TimeOutNY and has been said to be “agile as he navigated leaps and slurs with grace…he shifted between lyricism and aggression deftly” by the International Trumpet Guild Journal. A strong advocate of contemporary music, he is a founding member of the contemporary music quartet loadbang which has been called “inventive” by the New York Times, “cultivated” by The New Yorker, and “a formidable new-music force” by TimeOutNY. With loadbang, his playing has been said to be “polished and dynamic, with very impressive playing” by the Baltimore Sun, and that he “coaxed the ethereal and the gritty from [his] muted instrument…and revealed a facility for shaping notes and color” by the San Francisco Classical Voice. He is also a member of TILT Brass, the Byrne:KozarDuo, and has performed with new music ensembles including Bang on a Can, Ensemble Signal, Argento Chamber Ensemble, Talea Ensemble, Ensemble Echappe, Ensemble ACJW, Wet Ink, and Mark Gould’s Pink Baby Monster. He has performed alongside artists such as Dave Douglas, Pablo Heras Casado, James Thompson, Mark Gould and Brad Lubman, in addition to working closely with numerous composers including Helmut Lachenmann, Augusta Reed Thomas, Christian Wolff and Pulitzer Prize winning composers David Lang and Charles Wuorinen. Kozar has performed has performed at venues both domestically and abroad including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, MoMA, Rothko Chapel, The Barclays Center, and Shanghai Symphony Hall.

Equally well versed in the traditional repertoire, he is the principal trumpet of the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra and has performed with the Stamford and Hudson Valley Philharmonics. As a baroque trumpeter, he has performed as a part of the Boston Early Music Festival and with ensembles including Rebel Baroque, American Baroque Orchestra, The Bach Players of Holy Trinity in New York City, at St. Thomas alongside the St. Thomas Boys Choir, and with Ensemble Musica Humana.

In addition to contemporary and traditional classical music, his versatility has also allowed him the opportunity to perform with the Grammy nominated Travis Sullivan’s Bjorkestra, Russian pop-stars Tamara Gverdtsiteli and Igor Krutoi, indie pop bands including YUCK, the Generationals and Emanuel and the Fear and on Broadway’s Mary Poppins.

As a commercial recording artist, he can be heard on indie pop albums by Yuck on Mercury Records, Emanuel and the Fear and Bennett Lin, the Hollywood film Sushi Girl, and on PBS’s special featuring baritone Paul Byrom from Celtic Thunder. As a classical recording artist he can be heard on labels including Mode Records, New Focus Recordings, Bridge Records, and ANALOG Arts.

In addition to performing, his work as a composer has been said to have “intriguing sonorities” by the New York Times, to be “virtuosic” by The New Yorker, “…extremely effective and quite touching” by New Music Box, and “at the cutting edge of creativity” by Sequenza21. It has been performed by the members of loadbang, Bang on a Can All Star’s pianist Vicky Chow and many others.

Andy has studied with Anthony Pasquarelli, James Thompson, Brian McWhorter, Jens Lindemann and Mark Gould, has studied at Carnegie Mellon University, holds a BM from the Eastman School of Music, and a MM in contemporary performance at Manhattan School of Music. He has given lectures and master-classes at institutions including The Juilliard School, Eastman School of Music, Peabody Conservatory, New York University, and Northwestern University. Kozar regularly works as a teaching artist for the American Composers Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic’s Very Young Composers program, and is on faculty at the North Carolina Governor’s School, Hunter College, and the Longy School of Music of Bard College in Boston where, in addition to teaching trumpet, he is the Chair of the Winds and Brass Department and co-directs Ensemble Uncaged, Longy’s contemporary music ensemble. Andy is a Yamaha Performing Artist and exclusively performs on Yamaha trumpets.