Ensemble

Flute (doubling Piccolo), Oboe (doubling English horn), B-flat Clarinet (doubling B-flat Bass Clarinet), Bassoon (doubling Contrabassoon), F Horn, and Piano

Duration

Approx. 10 minutes

Recordings

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Score

Notes

Sexxtet for wind quintet and piano serves as a little composer's playground using a traditional ensemble. The title leans into the phonetic quirk of the word “sextet,” exaggerating it with an extra x rather than ignoring the word’s inherent cheekiness. :)

In the piece, I treat each instrument as a distinct personality vying for center stage. What begins as a buoyant, relaxed texture quickly accelerates into melodies that ricochet between voices that overlap and collide with one another. Even in its more introspective moments, the music maintains a restless vibe, allowing gestures to jolt, stretch, and evolve the musical fabric into something new.

As a performer myself, I wanted to write something decadent for the ensemble—music that is gratifying, expressive, and unapologetically idiomatic, with parts that feel inseparable from the instruments themselves. Ultimately, Sexxtet celebrates that unique tickle between individual virtuosity and the collective energy of the group.

Commissioned by

45th Parallel Universe under the aegis of the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy Alumni Support Initiative

World Premiere

January 13, 2022 by the Arcturus Quintet (Martha Long, Karen Wagner, James Shields, Steve Vacchi, Joe Berger) and Maria Garcia at the Jacobs Center in Portland, Oregon

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