TOM BLOMFIELD (oboe). Tom grew up in North Wales where he began learning the oboe aged 10. He studied at the Junior Royal Northern College of Music where he was taught by Rachael Pankhurst and was a member of both the National Youth Orchestra of Wales and the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain for a number of years. Tom graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in the summer of 2017 shortly before joining the Philharmonia Orchestra as their new joint principal oboe just a couple of months later at the age of 22. While at the Academy he studied with his predecessor at the Philharmonia, Christopher Cowie, and London Philharmonic principal Ian Hardwick. Tom is now a professor of oboe at the Royal Academy of Music, a role he undertook only a year following completion of his own studies there. Tom's career so far, outside of the Philharmonia, has led him to play principal oboe with the London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and Aurora Orchestra, and he can be heard on many film and commercial soundtracks. He regularly plays and tours with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, with whom he has travelled to America and all over Europe.

When not playing music Tom can be found on the tennis court with friends; a favorite past time along with watching the sport live. He supports Chelsea Football Club and has an unhealthy (and expensive) obsession with technology.

JAMES BURKE (clarinet). James leads a busy career as both co-principal of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and principal clarinet of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. When not performing, he teaches as a clarinet professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he once studied with teachers such as Andrew Webster, Nick Carpenter, Barnaby Robson, and Joy Farrall. James continues to play as guest principal in other orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Royal Northern Sinfonia. James' work with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields means that he also has many opportunities to perform chamber music on a regular basis, often with Music Director Joshua Bell. He has also worked with the London Sinfonietta, London Conchord Ensemble, Irish Chamber Orchestra, and the Philharmonia Soloists. As a soloist, James recently performed the Howard Blake Clarinet Concerto, with Sir Neville Marriner conducting.

James also gives master classes, as well as orchestral and chamber coaching sessions in some of the best music institutions in the country, including the Royal College of Music, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Southbank Sinfonia, and for the educational departments in the London Symphony Orchestra and Academy of St Martin in the Fields.​

JULIE PRICE (bassoon). An orchestral musician, chamber musician, soloist, and teacher, Julie Price has held positions as principal bassoon with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. She has been principal bassoon of the English Chamber Orchestra since 1994 and co-principal, now principal bassoon, of the BBC Symphony Orchestra since 2001. With conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Ralf Gothóni, Andrew Litton, Edward Gardner, and Douglas Boyd she has appeared as a soloist at the Barbican, Cadogan Hall, and Royal Festival Hall as well as many venues outside London and abroad. As a chamber musician she has appeared with such groups as the Nash, Gaudier, and Razumovsky ensembles, London Winds, and the Lindsay and Chilingirian string quartets. She first studied the bassoon with Sonja Smith, then with Edward Warren and William Waterhouse in Manchester, and later with Roger Birnstingl in Geneva.

Julie Price has been a teacher at the Royal College of Music in London since 1998. Her discography includes recordings of Mozart's Bassoon Concerto and Sinfonia Concertante and Elgar's Romance, all with the English Chamber Orchestra.

STEPHEN STIRLING (horn). Stephen Stirling is a renowned soloist who has appeared at almost every major British venue and with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, BBC NOW, BBC SSO, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestra of St John's. Recordings of Mozart Horn Concertos with the City of London Sinfonia feature constantly on classic FM, and he gave the world première of Gary Carpenter's Horn Concerto with the BBC Philharmonic on Radio 3. He holds the unique distinction of having been the soloist for the opening of both of London's newest purpose-built concert halls -- Cabot Hall and King's Place. His recording of the Weber Concertino Op. 45 with CLS conducted by Michael Collins recently came out with Chandos. He has a world-wide reputation as a chamber musician, in constant demand at festivals in the U.K. and abroad as well as being a founder member of Endymion, The Fibonacci Sequence, the Audley Trio, Arpège, and the New London Chamber Ensemble. Amongst over 75 recorded chamber works, Brahms' Horn Trio, with the Florestan Trio, was nominated for a Gramophone award. CDs of York Bowen, Thomas Dunhill, Stanford, and Horn a Fibonacci/Deux Elles CD of rare chamber works featuring the horn, have met with great critical acclaim. Principal of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, and the City of London Sinfonia, guest principal horn with the Capella Andrea Barca, Orquestra de Cadaques and Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and member then guest principal of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Stephen is privileged to have worked with many of the world's finest chamber orchestras.

Other recent highlights include performing at the Wigmore Hall with Angela Hewitt and Isabelle Faust, releases of chamber music by Nielsen, Lennox Berkeley, Sound Census with Endymion for NMC and a disc of music for oboe, horn, and piano for Oboe Classics.

Professor of horn at Trinity College of Music, London, on the faculty of the Yellow Barn Summer Music School and Festival in Vermont, Stephen is also a veteran of the Dartington International Summer School.

SIMON CRAWFORD-PHILLIPS (piano). Simon is a multi-festival director, renowned pianist, creative programmer with a passion for championing contemporary repertoire, and a chamber musician who regularly collaborates with artists such as Daniel Hope and Lawrence Power in repertoire from Haydn and Schumann to Adès, Byström, Dean and Reich. His own ensembles include The Kungsbacka Piano Trio, and Stockholm Syndrome Ensemble (resident artists at Stockholm Konzerthus). Simon is the artistic adviser and chief conductor of Västerås Sinfonietta as well as the artistic director of the Change Music Festival in Norra Halland, Västerås Music Festival and co-artistic director of the Wye Valley Chamber Music Festival. Simon is conductor fellow of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra working alongside chief conductor Alan Gilbert.

Simon's eclectic programming is reflected in an extraordinarily varied career as a conductor/director alongside his solo collaborations. Highlights have included debuts with Zurich Chamber Orchestra for an extensive European tour alongside Daniel Hope, directing Sinfonia Varsovia in Warsaw's Lutosławski Chain Festival, and debuting Wild Waves and Woods at Kings Place with Västerås Sinfonietta, Paul Watkins and Lawrence Power.

As a pianist The Guardian says Simon has "profound sensitivity and technical brilliance, achieving an expressive intensity that made for compelling listening." He performs in premiere festivals and concert halls across Europe including Verbier, Schleswig-Holstein, Edinburgh, and at Wigmore Hall where he will appear as the regular pianist with chamber ensemble-in-residence, the acclaimed Nash Ensemble. Notable concerto debuts include the NHK Symphony Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra directing from the keyboard.

Simon Crawford-Phillips is managed worldwide by Percius.

Carl Reinecke (1824-1910) was born near Hamburg, Germany, and died after a long career in Leipzig. He was one of the most active professional musicians in Europe. He made frequent concert tours as a pianist, taught at various conservatories, and conducted the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra from 1860-1895. After many years teaching piano and composition at the Leipzig Conservatory, he became its director in 1897. At the age of 80, he recorded several piano rolls for the Welte-Mignon company and later recorded another 34 rolls for other companies. He was a prolific composer in addition to all his other activities, with 300 numbered works and upwards of 1,000 pieces in total.

Reinecke's Trio for Oboe, Horn and Piano, Op.188, was written in 1886 and published in 1887, with alternate parts for violin and cello. The first movement, Allegro moderato, features an upward leaping theme with a dotted eighth-sixteenth note pattern, which then descends more lyrically. The second theme moves stepwise between two notes and is introduced by the horn. The second movement, Scherzo, is short, with a rollicking 6/8 rhythm in the first theme and a more lyrical second theme. In the third movement, Adagio, the horn introduces a lovely tranquil melody, followed by a forceful middle section and a return to the quieter theme. Harmonic changes are particularly intriguing. The Finale: Allegro ma non troppo, returns to the quick tempo of the second movement, although the horn reprises the theme of the third movement.  Both the clarinet and horn have long passages with piano accompaniment, as well as a more jocular interchange of parts among the three, before the vibrant ending.  Reinecke performed the piano part at the work's premiere with colleagues from the orchestra.  

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was born in Salzburg, Austria, and died in Vienna. His early years as a child prodigy touring Europe allowed him to absorb the many elements of musical culture in each region. As a result, he was one of the first to compose in what was called the "international style," which was readily accepted throughout Europe. Although trained as a pianist, he was also a skilled string player and had a thorough knowledge of wind instruments. He broke with his employer, the Archbishop of Salzburg, in 1781 and thereafter made his living as a freelance pianist, composer, teacher, and impresario. He relied heavily on commissions and the support of the rich families of Vienna.

Mozart's Quintet for Piano and Winds (Oboe, Clarinet, Horn, and Bassoon), K.452, was written on March 30, 1784, and premiered two days later. The piece was inspired by clarinetist Anton Stadler (1753-1812), one of a pair of virtuoso clarinet-playing brothers.  K.452 is one of the first works ever composed for winds and piano. Although string quartets and quintets (with or without piano) were popular, compositions with wind ensembles were rare. The heterogeneous nature of wind-instrument timbres made it difficult to combine them in chamber music, yet Mozart succeeded admirably in balancing their characteristics and making a unified ensemble of them. This was one of his own favorite compositions. The three movements feature fairly short phrases, to accommodate the instrumentalists' need to breathe and to rest briefly. (Many technological changes have taken place over time that make modern instruments more ergonomic than those of earlier periods.) Accompanied by the piano, each instrument is featured in solo passages that highlight its capabilities, as well as in duets, trios, and quartets. Frequent key changes allow the instruments to be displayed to their best advantage. The finale, Rondo-Allegretto, has an ABACA form, returning to the piano statements between each variation. It ends with what seems to be a cadenza, which sounds improvised but is actually written out for each instrument in the impetuous final measures.

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) was born in Hamburg, Germany, and spent much of his career in Vienna. He wrote prolifically in many forms and was himself a great pianist. Although at one time thought to be the last of the "Classical" composers, his influence was felt into the twentieth century by such notables as Arnold Schoenberg. Brahms was active at a time when the musical world was divided between those who revered earlier masters, such as Handel and Bach, and those who wanted to move forward, such as Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt.  Brahms essentially went his own way and took minimal interest in the debates that swirled around him and other more conservative composers of the era.

In December 1890, Brahms wrote to his publisher Simrock that he was finished with composition. A few months later, however, he met clarinet virtuoso Richard Mühlfeld (1856-1907), the clarinetist of the Meiningen Court Orchestra. With this inspiration, Brahms resumed composition, including four works for Mühlfeld, who was known for his beautiful tone and elegant playing. Although Brahms had written idiomatically for clarinet in his orchestral works, he had never previously ventured into solo clarinet repertoire. The Opus 120 set is Brahms's last chamber music, last use of the sonata form, last scherzo, and last use of variation form. These were the first major sonatas for clarinet and piano; in the slightly revised version for viola and piano, Brahms also created the first major viola-piano sonatas. Op.120, No. 2, which is overall a contemplative work, with a dreamy first movement in a relaxed sonata form. The second movement is a powerful Scherzo, unusual in that this movement is stereotypically a broadly humorous or lively contrast to the rest of the work. Brahms sets up a variation pattern in the Andante con moto finale, employing the smallest possible rhythmic elements for the two instruments in the first variations. The final variation appears in the relative minor key before a tumultuous, virtuosic, joyful conclusion. Brahms and Mülfeld were the much-admired performers at the work's premiere.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was born in Bonnand lived there most of his first 22 years, absorbing its rich musical and literary culture. The son and grandson of court musicians, he played his first piano concert in 1778. Although not a child prodigy in the mold of Mozart, he continued to develop his skills. When he moved to Vienna, his reputation was that of a virtuoso improviser and pianist. His pianism was vigorous, and he took full advantage of new developments in piano technology. Like Mozart, he was reliant upon the patronage of the many aristocrats who supported the musical life of Vienna. He accepted no official post but made his living by composing, performing, and teaching piano to the wealthy and their children.

Beethoven's Quintet in Eb for Piano, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn, and Bassoon, Op. 16, was composed in 1796. Many parallels exist with Mozart's K.452 quintet: the same instrumentation, same key structure, same three movements. The first movement opens with short statements in unison by all the instruments; only in the seventh measure does the harmony begin to develop. The main theme appears after almost three minutes, as the flourishes of the slow introduction give way to the three-themed sonata form. The entire work alternates between lyrical and dramatic statements. In contrast to much of Beethoven's music, the quintet has a peaceful, almost bucolic feel to it. The finale includes a hunting-horn call, a nod to the traditional use of the horn in upper-class hunts. As did the other composers on this program, Beethoven played the premiere himself—and delighted the audience with improvisations. These however annoyed his fellow performers, who were tricked out of their expected entrances as Beethoven gleefully played on.

—Mary Black Junttonen, MSU Music Librarian Emerita