Coffee Patisserie & Classical Music 5.7.22

Recorded on 5/14//22

Jim Rodgers - Heckelphone, contrabassoon and bassoon
Katherine Needleman - oboe and piano

Jim Rodgers has been the Principal Contrabassoonist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra since September of 2001. Formerly, he was the Principal Bassoonist with the Jacksonville Symphony, Associate Principal Bassoonist with the Florida Orchestra, Second Bassoonist with the Houston Symphony, and Contrabassoonist with the Colorado Symphony. Summer activities have included the Grand Tetons Music Festival, Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, Colorado Music Festival, National Orchestral Institute and Tanglewood Music Center. 

A founding member of the Pittsburgh Reed Trio, Jim has performed to critical acclaim. Their many and varied concerts have been heard locally, nationally and abroad. Jim also enjoys opportunities for study and performance on his Heckelphone, a rare double-reed instrument. As a pioneer of electric/acoustic bassoon and contrabassoon development, Jim is ever creatively exploring the possibilities of his instruments' capabilities, both in sound and genre.

Jim serves on the faculty of the Duquesne University Mary Pappert School of Music. He has also served on the faculty of Seton Hill University, Florida Southern College and Clearwater Christian College. In addition to a home studio, Jim is the woodwind coach for the Three Rivers Young People’s Orchestra.

Katherine Needleman is a multi-faceted musician and native of Baltimore. She won first prize in the International Double Reed Society’s Inaugural Commissioning Competition in 2020. She curates Coffee, Patisserie, and Classical Music at An die Musik Live. She explores the connection between composer and performer in this series, focusing on music that has been unreasonably under-programmed for various reasons. She performs as an oboe recitalist throughout the U.S. As a day job, she is an orchestral oboist, having performed as guest principal with all of the U.S.’s “Big Five” orchestras except for one and has been the Baltimore Symphony’s principal oboist since 2003.

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Katherine Needleman (b. 1978)
Sonata for Heckelphone and Piano
WORLD PREMIERE
    Jim Rodgers, Heckelphone
    Katherine Needleman, piano

Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)
Arioso
    Jim Rodgers, Heckelphone
    Katherine Needleman, piano