by Daniel Hathaway
Oberlin’s historical flute professor Michael Lynn has devised a whole day of events celebrating the little-known world of 19th century French flute music. On Saturday, October 31, Lynn will team up with flute professor Alexa Still, fortepianist David Breitman, the Conservatory’s music history department, the Conservatory Library, and the Frederick R. Selch Center for Music History, to shine light on a neglected subject through lectures, a concert and an exhibition.
Lynn said in a telephone conversation that his project has been an adventure full of surprises. “I didn’t know that much about the repertoire, but I had the general feeling that there was a bunch of it out there. I’ve collected flutes from that era, especially Viennese instruments, but somehow I got pulled in by the French flutes. They’re simpler, more elegant instruments, and the more digging I did into the music written for them, the more interesting it became.” [Read more…]
When Oberlin faculty violinist Marilyn McDonald and pianist David Breitman play Beethoven sonatas in the Conservatory’s Kulas Recital Hall on Saturday, September 13 at 4:30 pm, they’ll be joined by the latest addition to Oberlin’s impressive collection of historic keyboard instruments. An Anton Zierer fortepiano built in Vienna in 1829 came to live in Oberlin last summer and has kept Robert Murphy, the conservatory’s curator of fortepianos, busy getting it settled into a new environment.