Dan Locklair's Reynolda Reflections Premieres to Great Acclaim at Foothills
Chamber Music Festival in Winston-Salem, NC

Dan Locklair's Reynolda Reflections for flute, cello and piano received its
World Premiere performances on Friday, August 18, 8 PM at Shirley Hall of
Salem College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Saturday, August 19, 8
PM at the Reynolda House Museum of American Art., also in Winston-Salem,
both presented by the Foothills Chamber Music Festival.

The critic Ken Keuffel, Jr.  of the Winston-Salem Journal said of the
August 18 performance:

   "Instrumental music inspired by painting or literature enjoys a long
   and rich tradition.

Last night at Shirley Hall, three musicians added another gem to this
repertory, offering the World Premiere of Reynolda Reflections, by Dan
Locklair, a professor at Wake Forest University.  The Locklair premiere
highlighted "Musical Tales", a Foothills Festival concert of works inspired
by non-musical media, mainly stories.

Reflections is scored for flute (Rebecca Troxler), piano (David Shimoni)
and cello (Paige Riggs).  Each of its five movements was inspired by
different painting's in Reynolda House's collections of American art.

In general, Locklair's music here is strong, inventive and able to maintain
an original voice despite drawing on a range of styles, from jazz to Thomas
Tallis...The music reflects a strong sense of logic and narrative and the
expressive possibilities of each instrument.  It abounds in what one
musician in the audience called "listenable" melody - an increasingly
common characteristic in today's new music.

The movements were inspired by paintings by Worthington Wittredge, Thomas
Hart Benton, Georgia O'Keefe, Charles Sheeler and Elliott Daingerfield.
Among this listener's favorites were "Grounded in Machines", inspired by
Benton's Bootleggers and "Arias to a Flower" inspired by O'Keefe's Pool in
the Woods.

In the latter, the music grew from sensuous and dreamy sounds into
something filled with majesty.  In the former, the music is meant to
depict Good and Evil.  It skillfully alternates fast sections with slow
ones, interrupting some jazzy flute-cello duets with the piano's chordal
outbursts and mad, ostinato figures."

The music of internationally recognized composer Dan Locklair is influenced
by a wide variety of traditions, ranging from Medieval to modern music.
The works of Benjamin Britten and Aaron Copland have had a significant
impact on his writing.  His music has been performed throughout Europe and
North America by many major orchestras, choral groups, chamber ensembles
and soloists.  Several of these works have received major awards, including
the 1989 Barlow International Competition Award for changing perceptions &
Epitaph and the 1996 American Guild of Organists Composer of the Year
Award.  He is currently Professor of Music and Composer -in-Residence at
Winston-Salem's Wake Forest University.  Dan Locklair's website is located
at http://www.wfu.edu/~locklair.  He is represented by Jeffrey James Arts
Consulting - 516-797-9166 - phone and fax, to whom inquiries about his
music can be directed.

The Foothills Chamber Music Festival presents concerts throughout the month
of August in some of Winston-Salem's most beautiful and historic places,
including the Reynolda House Museum of American Art and the Southeastern
Center for Contemporary Art.  The Foothills Chamber Music Festival website
is at http://www.foothillsmusicfestival.org.

Jeffrey James <[log in to unmask]>