Program Notes: From Eric Ewazen to Amanda Harberg

By Leilani Polk

In our Chamber Series, the Seattle Symphony’s musicians curate the programming. In the series’ season finale, two contemporary bassoon trios are paired with a string quartet from a major composer of the 19th century. 

Kicking off the program are selections from Bassoon & Contrabassoon Kipras Mazeika. First, it’s Amanda Harberg’s Impulsive Nature for Bassoon, Horn and Piano. 

A New York City-based composer, pianist and educator, Harberg combines classical Western tradition with contemporary influences, and composes solo, chamber and orchestra works for an array of instruments, though her works for woodwinds have earned the highest praise.  

Kipras first encountered her Suite for Wind Quintet while attending Rice University; he and his group were seeking repertoire outside of the standard offerings. “We found this work and we fell in love with the lush harmonic landscape, coupled with a virtuosic writing that was challenging and rewarding to work on. I could tell she was a fantastic composer and understood the capabilities of woodwind instruments superbly well.” 

When she published a Bassoon Sonata, he learned to play it and says he felt a similar deep appreciation of her writing for the bassoon. In late 2023, when he was contacted by former Rice student and Met Opera Principal Bassoon Billy Short about a consortium to commission a new work by Harberg for bassoon, horn and piano, “I was excited to support the project and be a part of her next contribution to our repertoire.” 

The resulting piece, Impulsive Nature, written for Short and his wife, New Jersey Symphony horn player Katie Jordan, was premiered in November of 2025 at the Manhattan School of Music.  

Among the natural sounds that she used as inspiration were the staccato chirps of the Puerto Rican coquí frog and the wood thrush, whose multiple sets of vocal cords give it a complex call and phrasing. “I imagine the piece to take place in the forest at night,” says Kipras, “as the nocturnal animals are becoming active and the coquí frogs ascend into the treetops.  Over the course of the piece, the three instruments, and especially the horn and bassoon, trade bird and frog calls with one another, in constant conversation and then more and more in unison as the piece develops. I think something interesting to listen for in this small ensemble of such varied instrumental timbres is the individuality of each instrument and how their voices respond to each other in this jungle soundscape.” 

“As a general guideline, the piece was written for a bassoon in the high register, and a horn in the lower register,” Kipras explains, “so I immediately thought of playing it with my friend and colleague Danielle [Kuhlman], who plays low horn in the symphony.” They both grew up in Seattle and Danielle’s brother is a bassoonist, so Kipras knew she had a special connection with the instrument. “I admire her musicianship and collegiality. We have also been frequent colleagues playing in woodwind quintets together for Tiny Tots and outreach programs, so I’m very excited to work with her on these trios.” 

He discovered Eric Ewazen’s Trio for Bassoon, Horn and Piano while searching for another piece to perform. The Cleveland-born Ewazen has been on the music faculty at Juilliard since 1980 and is a composer with a wide, varied and rather vast repertoire.  

“Similarly to Harberg, I love his writing for wind instruments, and I also revel in the unexpected, beautiful harmonies in which his music exists. When I first contacted Danielle about the new Harberg trio, we decided together that the Ewazen would be the perfect companion piece, especially since Ewazen was Danielle’s theory professor at Juilliard!” It felt especially fitting because both Harberg and Ewazen are NYC-based composers. But Ewazen’s Trio, according to Kipras, has slightly more edgy harmonic language, creating a big contrast with lots of open intervals interspersed with some more stark dissonance. “The horn and bassoon are often a team, playing together or supporting each other. And the energy of the piece is also contrasted greatly, from the calm, almost still slow sections, to the driving energy and syncopated articulation of the fast sections.”  

Asta Vaičekonis will join them for both pieces. She’s an acclaimed pianist and educator at Seattle Pacific University and frequently performs solo and chamber recitals in Seattle and around the world. She has been playing with Kipras since he started bassoon in middle school. “Our families have long been close as we are both a part of the Seattle Lithuanian community.” Asta has collaborated with Kipras in countless competitions and auditions, including his concerto competition win for the Seattle Symphony’s Young Artists program. “Having colleagues to whom I feel such a strong connection and whom I deeply admire makes the whole process of preparing and performing so special and meaningful.” 

After intermission, Seattle Symphony Viola Daniel Stone offers the String Quartet No. 2 in A minor by Johannes Brahms (1833–1897). For this piece, Dan approached a group of musicians he hadn’t played chamber music with yet and who’d all joined the orchestra within the past few years: Jacqueline Audas (violin), Katherine Audas (cello) and Ji Yeon Lee (violin). “I was really impressed that both Jacqueline and Ji Yeon successfully joined the orchestra soon after their family members. Jacqueline followed her sister, Kathy, and Ji Yeon followed her husband, SuengHoon.” 

When selecting the piece, he says, it was important for he and Kathy to have interesting and challenging parts. “Ji Yeon proposed the Brahms Second String Quartet. I hadn't played it and wasn't familiar with it, but Brahms is one of my favorite composers, so it seemed like a good choice!” 

Brahms didn’t complete his first two string quartets until 1873, although many versions apparently existed much earlier. The A-minor Quartet premiered two months before No. 1, though both had been sent to Brahms’ publisher at the same time. It is the more expansive and lyrical of the two, and contains a personal, extra-musical element in the themes of the opening movement. The piece was first performed by the quartet of Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim, a good friend of Brahms’ whose motto was “Frei, aber einsam” (Free, but lonely). Brahms countered that with “Frei, aber froh” (Free, but glad), and used the pitches F-A-E and F-A-F prominently.  

“Brahms’ music often has very long and sustained phrases, a rich and warm timbre, and is driven by lyricism,” Dan says. “As a string player, this can be difficult to accomplish technically with things like string crossings and bow changes, and that was one of the things I noticed when I started working on the piece.” 

He says the quartet is largely motivic, with melodies that are often more elusive and intertwined with the inner voices, “and could almost be an accompanying inner voice themselves. I think that is one of the major challenges, but also one of the most rewarding aspects of this piece, and what makes it so different from other chamber music I've played by Brahms.”