Contrabassoon Jack Price Founding Partner / Managing Director Marc Parella Partner / Director of Operations Brenna Sluiter Marketing Operations Manager Karrah Cambry Opera and Special Projects Manager Mailing Address: 520 Geary Street Suite 605 San Francisco CA 94102 Contents: Telephone: Biography Toll-Free 1-866-PRI-RUBI (774-7824) Discography 310-254-7149 / Los Angeles 415-504-3654 / San Francisco CD Reviews Skype: pricerubent | marcparella Press Quotes & Testimonials Repertoire Email: Performance History [email protected] Performance Schedule [email protected] Website: Complete artist information including video, audio http://www.pricerubin.com and interviews are available at www.pricerubin.com Yahoo!Messenger pricerubin Susan Nigro – Biography "CONTRABASSOONIST WITH A CAUSE" What could be more intriguing than the idea of a normal-sized female musician making a solo career on a huge instrument weighing 15 pounds and containing over 18 feet of tubing? Contrabassoon crusader Susan Nigro, a native of the south side of Chicago, has done exactly this - made a name for herself as one of the world's very few soloists on this instrument. Not content merely with orchestral freelance work, the "Contrabassoonist with a Cause" has made it her mission to bring this little-known but important instrument the long overdue attention and respect it deserves. Susan's emphasis is on solo performance with the contrabassoon. Her innumerable recitals and solo appearances have occurred in such places as Salzburg, Montevideo, Rome, and throughout the United States. On many occasions, she has been a featured artist at the annual conferences of the International Double Reed Society, and has also played as a guest artist with the Northern Hills Bassoon Ensemble as well as with the St. Luke's Bottle Band. Her solo performances are frequently accompanied by master classes, lecture-demonstrations, or workshops designed by this contrabassoon spokesperson to enhance the understanding and appreciation of the instrument's unique sound and surprising versatility. In recognition of her status, she served as a "permanent substitute" with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for five seasons, from 2008 to 2013 - and is currently contrabassoonist with the Illinois Philharmonic. Ms. Nigro's quest for contrabassoon solo literature has led her to commission and perform many new compositions, and she has premiered more than 2 dozen solo works for this instrument. Some of these new pieces have been published, and others are in the publication process. Susan is also a recording artist, and has 7 CDs currently on the market: "The Big Bassoon" (1995), "Little Tunes for the Big Bassoon" (1997), "The Two Contras" - in collaboration with retired CSO contra player Burl Lane (1999), "The Bass Nightingale" - (2001), "New Tunes for the Big Bassoon", (2003), "Italian Tunes for the Big Bassoon" – Susan Nigro – Biography (2005), and "Original Tunes for the Big Bassoon" (2008). Clips from these discs may be heard on the recordings page of www.bigbassoon.com and excerpts from these CDs have been aired on WFMT/WDCB/WNUR/WNIB - in Chicago, WNTI - in New Jersey, and 2MBS-FM - In Australia. Susan was the winner of a Pro Musicis International Career Development Grant, and a finalist in the Chicago Park District Talent Search. She received an honorable mention prize in the Rome Festival Concerto Competition, acompetitive national audition. Her orchestral experience has included regular subbing with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, previous work with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, and extensivefreelancing in the Chicago area. She earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Northwestern University, and an additional graduate degree from Roosevelt University. Her teachers were Burl Lane, Ferdinand Del Negro, Willard Elliot, Leonard Sharrow, Sherman Walt, and Wilbur Simpson. She attended the Tanglewood Music Center for three summers, where she was awarded the Henry B. Cabot Prize, and honed her ensemble skills in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. In May 2007, the Order Sons of Italy in America, State of Illinois, bestowed upon Susan their Leonardo da Vinci Award of Excellence in the field of Performing Arts. Ms. Nigro has been on the State Artists Rosters of eight U.S. states including the Illinois Arts Council's Arts Tour Artists Roster, has appeared as a guest artist at the Rome Festival in Italy, the Aspekte Festival of Salzburg, and at the Grand Teton (WY) Music Festival, and also was an artist-in-residence at the 3rd Annual Contrabassoon Festival (UT). She is a founding member of the Chicago Bassoon Quartet, "The 2 Contras" contrabassoon duo, and ContraBand - probably the world's only contrabassoon octet. The International Biographical Centre in Cambridge, England named Susan "International Musician of the Year" for 2003. Her Artist Biography is included in the archives of the International Music Museum in London, England, she is listed in the 14th Edition (1994) of International Who's Who in Music, and she holds memberships in ten high IQ organizations: The International High IQ Society, Mensa, The High Potentials Society, The Top One Percent Society, The Mind Society, Intertel, The Geek Community, The Poetic Genius Society, Colloquy, andThe One-in-a-Thousand Society. Susan resides with her beloved companions Caesar and Cassius - 2 Cirneco dogs from Sicily. Susan Nigro – Discography Click below to review samples from each of Sue's albums! Susan Nigro–Discography Susan Nigro – CD Reviews American Record Guide - July/August 2006 American Record Guide July/August 2006 Bellissima Susan Nigro. Cbn ---Crystal 845— 66 minutes For as long as I can remember, the name Susan Nigro has been synonymous with the contrabassoon; one cannot be mentioned without the other. Her notoriety comes from having produced five, now six recordings on the instrument. Five of them, including this one, have been made with Crystal Records--a fine match. Crystal Records produces good quality recordings that represent solo music like this very well. Bellissima is an album of works by Italian composers spanning several centuries. Many of the works come straight from the bassoon solo literature, such as the Vivaldi A-minor Concerto, while others are arranged for the contrabassoon and piano accompaniment—for example, the Albinoni Adagio in G minor. The Sonata in B-flat by Girolamo Besozzi at the beginning of the program is a pleasant and somewhat serious introduction. Nigro plays with impeccable taste and precision. Rossini’s Cavatina comes next and brings with it a barrel of laughs. Almost everyone knows this melody and will have no trouble appreciating the two-fold musical humor— contrabassoon as a Thieving Magpie. There are two other works by Rossini: Allegro and Introduction and the Theme and Variations from the Quartet No. 6. Rossini was a great lyrical writer and musical humorist; Nigro accentuates that humor while not losing the lyrical quality of the music. A welcome addition to any recording for an odd instrument like this is a work composed specifically for the instrument. Teresa Procaccini, a composer who lives in Rome, wrote Moments for contrabassoon and piano. It displays the instrument in a more flattering light, not that performing arrangements or bassoon music is necessarily unflattering. More than just the fact that the piece was written for the instrument, it is the legato-style melodies that show off the sonorous side of the instrument that make this piece stand out. Still, the arrangement of Albinoni’s Adagio is the heart and soul of this recording. Nigro and Lindeblad’s performance is so gorgeous and so musical that I forgot it was a contrabassoon. I was simply captivated by the music. The spirit in this piece is very much like Virgil Fox’s famous recordings of Bach’s ‘Come, Sweet Death; on the Wanamaker Susan Nigro – CD Reviews Organ: taking command of such a large and cumbersome instrument and making it perform music that haunts the soul is truly an achievement. There seem to be some odd extraneous noises on this track, and the recording quality changes slightly from the other track, but this is one of the most musical performances of the work I have ever heard. Also on the recording is Otmar Nussio’s Divertimento, a good piece for contrabassoon and piano. It has good character, and Nigro’s phrasing is clear and meaningful. There is an introduction followed by four brief movements. ‘Pantomima’ and ‘Corteggio’ are my favorites—for who among us does not get a thrill from a low B-flat on the contrabassoon at the end of any piece? The Bassoon Concerto in A minor by Vivaldi works well with contra, but I would prefer to have heard it with string accompaniment, rather than piano. There is absolutely nothing wrong with Lindeblad’s performance, but the sound of the piano is not large enough to properly accompany this instrument, which has such a, well, large sound. I suspect that all of Susan Nigro’s fans have already snatched up their copies of this recording. In case you have not done it, do it. There is excellent music-making here. SCHWARTZ Fanfare July/August 2006 FANFARE July/August 2006 Instrumental SUSAN NIGRO, CONTRABASSOON Susan Nigro (cbn); Mark Lindblad (pn) * CRYSTAL CD845 (66:13) BESOZZI Sonata in Bb. ROSSINI (arr. Berr) La Gazza ladra: Cavatina. Allegro for Bassoon and Piano. ROSSINI (arr. Zukerman) Quartet No. 6: Introduction. Theme, and Variations. PROCACCINI Moments, op. 154. ALBINONI (arr. Giazotto) Adagio in g. NUSSIO Divertimento. VIVALDI Bassoon Sonata No. 3 in a. This is Susan Nigro’s fourth CD for Crystal Records, a company that specializes in performances of music for wind and brass instruments. The disc has two appropriate subtitles: “Bellissima” and “Italian Tunes for the Big Bassoon.” Perhaps some connoisseurs will think the superlative degree of beautiful not quite appropriate for the Susan Nigro – CD Reviews biggest and deepest sounding of the woodwinds, but they should listen before making such a judgment.