A Chamber Group in a Pandemic
My name is Kika Wright and I am the bassoonist of the Incidental Chamber Players, a Pittsburgh PA-based chamber music organization that presents concerts of rarely played and unjustly forgotten woodwind music. We’ve been in existence since 2013, and have presented concert series that fit our mission–an exploration of music from (almost) every continent; hidden figures from Europe; and in our last and most powerful series, our own personal histories.
Mark Fromm: Silent Spring (2016)
Mark Fromm is a composer, educator, and bassoonist from Pittsburgh, and a great friend of ICPlayers. Silent Spring is based on the book by Rachel Carson (also a Pittsburgh native) about the harmful effects of DDT on the natural world.
Performers:
Kristine Rominski, flute
Kira Bokalders, clarinets
Amaury Morales, piano
Zuly Inirio, mezzo-soprano.
Elements was born from a discussion our group had in 2019, when it felt like many forces were converging upon us – a Trump presidency and what that meant for the Black, Brown, Queer, and Immigrant members of our group; the fact that the Incidental Chamber Players had become a mostly BIPOC ensemble; and a report from the City of Pittsburgh’s Gender Equity Commission that demonstrated that on every measure of livability, there is no worse city in America than Pittsburgh for Black women. At the same time that Pittsburgh was declared Best Foodie City, Black women of Pittsburgh struggled to access quality healthcare, good paying jobs, and safe housing. We as a group love this town, and we used this concert series as an expression of our care. We performed the music of Queer people, Black and Brown people, Latines, Women– people who have historically been excluded from Classical music.
Florence Price: Fantasie Negre No. 2 (1932)
(adapted for reed trio by David Fitzpatrick)
Florence Price was an extremely prolific composer from the 20th century, whose works have essentially been forgotten for the past few decades. In the last two years, more organizations have made efforts to perform works by Black composers, so we've seen a resurgence of her music.
Performers:
David Fitzpatrick, oboe
Kira Bokalders, clarinet
Kika Wright, bassoon
We were able to perform one Elements concert in-person before the COVID-19 pandemic put a pause on all artistic activities. We were also geographically separated, and it would be quite some time before we could be together again. The joy of being in a chamber group is collaborating, hearing, and responding to the other musicians. It was a great loss for us. David Fitzpatrick, our executive director and oboist, and I worked to secure the funding and technology to put the series online. We recorded in our makeshift studios and David edited our video and audio together. David was able to engineer a season’s worth of concerts with only one music technology class under his belt. As well as for our musicians, who had to become their own sound engineers and create a recording studio out of their own homes.
Rebecca Clarke: Prelude, Allegro and Pastorale for clarinet and viola (1941)
Rebecca Clarke
Kira Bokalders, clarinet
Si Yu, viola
Rebecca Clarke was a British American composer and viola virtuoso, whose music is also seeing a well-deserved resurgence. She wrote this work for her brother and sister-in-law.
Almost a year ago, we presented our first online concert, and it’s a model that we have adopted moving forward. As an online entity, we are able to reach a wider audience, and respond quickly to current events. We were able to put sixteen Pittsburgh-area musicians back to work. As we continue to transition to more in-person events, we are exploring ways to both maintain our online audience and incorporate more online elements (livestreaming, miniconcerts, etc.), into our performances.
Hispanic Heritage Month Mini-Concert
The ICPlayers put together the Hispanic Heritage Month Concert as a celebration of Amaury's and my Hispanic heritage, as well as to showcase the many contributions of Latines to the classical music canon.
Sergio Ortega: El Pueblo Unido Jamás Será Vencido
(adapted for Woodwind Quartet & Piano by David Fitzpatrick)
Pixinguinha: Sensível
(adapted for Woodwind Quartet by Kristine Rominski)
Hilario González: Preludio en Conga No. 2
(adapted for Woodwind Quartet by Amaury Morales)
Pablo Gómez Estévez: Samedi for oboe and piano
Jonathan Piña Duluc: "El tiempo que se va" for Woodwind Quartet & Piano
(commissioned by I.C.Players)
Musicians:
Kristine Rominski, flute
David Fitzpatrick, oboe
Kira Bokalders & Ryan Leonard, clarinet
Kika Wright, bassoon
Amaury Morales, piano
Created in 2013, the Incidental Chamber Players is a music collective that puts music featuring woodwinds in the limelight. Our organization takes a unique approach in designing programs by focusing on a theme, then inviting all members of the collective to contribute in bringing the programs to life.
At its core, the ensemble is comprised of a woodwind quartet plus piano, and expands to include strings, percussion, voice and beyond in order to present the full spectrum of chamber music repertoire that involves woodwinds.
Kika Wright is a bassoonist, teaching artist, and arts administrator based in New York City. She is also an active freelancer throughout the Northeastern US. She is the bassoonist of the Incidental Chamber Players of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, a chamber group focused on performing unjustly forgotten works of the wind repertoire, and the Atlantic Collective of New York City.
Ms. Wright is the music programs manager of the Bronx Arts Ensemble, as well as a teaching artist, teaching woodwinds in Bronx public schools.
Ms. Wright has participated in summer music programs in the U.S. and Canada, including the Hot Springs Music Festival, Banff Music Centre, Eastern Music Festival, and the Aspen Music Festival and School.
Former teachers include Daryl Durran, Marc Vallon, Nancy Goeres, and Frank Morelli. Ms. Wright is a member of the International Double Reed Society and the American Federation of Musicians, Local 802.