Photos by Decca / Dana van leeuwen
It is reportedly the most played instrument in the world, an ideal introduction to the joy of music-making for elementary school students. Those who are handed a recorder (probably a plastic one) find that they can play simple tunes almost immediately. Many are inspired to move on to other instruments. But what if they continued to develop their recorder technique?
Seventeen-year-old Lucie Horsch (from the Netherlands) did just that and now she’s been called “the latest big thing in recorder playing.” The daughter of two professional cellists, she started playing the recorder when she five. Her parents thought it would be a step on the way to a “real” instrument, probably a string instrument, but for Lucie the recorder is quite real and she performs both baroque and contemporary repertoire.
Horsch made her U.S. debut with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in March, 2017. Her debut recording was praised by BBC Music Magazine as “a disc to buy, and display in years to come as the start of a distinguished career.”
If you’d like to hear how accomplished she was at the age of nine, check out this televised performance from Amsterdam:
And here she is more recently:
Alan Chapman
Alan Chapman, in addition to his weekday morning program, is also the host and producer of two weekend programs: Modern Times and Thornton Center Stage.
After receiving his undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he earned a Ph.D. in music theory from Yale University. He is currently a member of the music theory faculty of the Colburn Conservatory. He was a longtime member of the music faculty at Occidental College and has also been a visiting professor at UCLA and UC Santa Barbara. His analytical work has appeared in the Journal of Music Theory and in The New Orpheus: Essays on Kurt Weill, winner of the Deems Taylor Award for excellence in writing on music.
Well known as a pre-concert lecturer, Alan has been a regular speaker on the L.A. Philharmonic's "Upbeat Live" series since its inception in 1984. He also works closely with the Los Angeles Master Chorale and Pacific Symphony. His lectures have been presented by virtually every major performing organization in southern California. He has been heard globally as programmer and host of the inflight classical channel on Delta Airlines.
Alan is also active as a composer/lyricist. His songs have been performed and recorded by many artists around the world and have been honored by ASCAP, the Johnny Mercer Foundation, and the Manhattan Association of Cabarets. His children's opera Les Moose: The Operatic Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle was commissioned by LA Opera for its 1997-98 season. Alan frequently appears in cabaret evenings with his wife, soprano Karen Benjamin. They made their Carnegie Hall debut in 2000 and performed at Lincoln Center in 2006. Their recent CD, Que Será, Será: The Songs of Livingston and Evans, features the late Ray Evans telling the stories behind such beloved songs as "Mona Lisa" and "Silver Bells."
