Hello hello! It’s been a minute! I hope the turning of the year finds you all well. This season, brin can be spotted…

Launching a new commissioning consortium!

At the most recent conference of the International Double Reed Society, I was blessed to have a fabulous performance of the first movement of my first bassoon sonata, Rotational Games, by the one and only Elle Senn. I believe this was the world premiere of the revised version of that movement, and you can watch it in all its glory here:

I had a great time working with Elle, and we decided to team up again, this time to launch a consortium for me to write a new piece for bassoon and piano, the Elsterliedersonate (“Magpie-Song Sonata”). The Elsterliedersonate is a work that’s been in my head for a very long time: Some of you may know that I first got into classical music thru the works of PDQ Bach, as discovered and presented to the world by Peter Schickele. In honor of those transformative early musical encounters, and also in acknowledgement of the way bassoonists so often react to our limited repertoire by pilfering music written for other instruments, I’ve long wanted to write a sonata stitched together from fragments of the standard repertoire — and now I’m finally doing it!

We anticipate the finished work will be in three movements, about fifteen minutes in total, give or take. I always feel a little hesitant going into detail about music I haven’t actually written yet, but I feel fairly confident saying that, along with the inevitable gags of juxtaposition, there will also be passages of snarling claustrophobia at being hemmed in by the canon’s omnipresence alongside sequences of expansive, lyrical yearning and joy at all this music has to offer. I think it’s going to be a banger, and I’m thrilled to finally have a chance to bring it into the world! Check out the full details, and consider signing up and/or telling all your bassoonist friends about it if you think it sounds neat! We have several different tiers, and they all go directly to supporting the creation of new queer, Jewish art:

Elsterliedersonate Commissioning Consortium — brin solomon - Composer | Bassoonist | Sound Technician

Bassoonist Elle Senn is leading a consortium to commission a new sonata for bassoon and piano from composer brin solomon! This new work, the Elsterliedersonate , will be a tribute to Peter Schickele/PDQ Bach, with movements stitched together from kaleidoscopic quotations from every corner of the

G-d willing, I’ll have more news to share soon; in the meantime, as ever, be excellent to one another!