It’s not often we get to enjoy English horn soloists here on the show, so today was a special treat with Mika Brunson and her accompanist Larry Gee who performed works for English horn and piano. Mika plays the oboe and the English horn for the Las Vegas Philharmonic and lectures at the University of Wisconsin. She’s performed with the Utah Symphony, the Orchestra at Temple Square and the La Crosse Symphony, and she works as a freelance musician with stage productions and studio recordings. She’s also an avid baseball fan! 

Pianist Larry Gee is our most common guest on Highway 89 and is well-known throughout all of Salt Lake City where he performs regularly, teaches voice, and is also an adjunct Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of Utah. 

Together they share with us pieces not normally heard on our show, pieces that showcase the singing tone of the English horn. One and a half times the length of an oboe, the English horn (or, cor anglais) is what’s known as a ‘transposing instrument’, and is pitched a perfect fifth lower than an oboe. The cor anglais is perceived to have a more mellow and plaintive tone, one that is contributed to by its pear-shaped bell. 

Host: Walter Rudolph 

Repertoire: HINDEMITH Sonata for English Horn and Piano; BOZZA Lied; STEINMETZ Suite from an Imaginary Opera for English Horn and Piano; 

Follow Highway 89 on twitter @byuh89