Flute Quartet Offered Regional Premier Of ‘Harmony In Blue And Gold’

Femme Flutale, a flute quartet founded by Sandy Hook native Joan da Silva Heit (pictured), was invited by Eric Ewazen to perform in his faculty recital at Juilliard on April 11. The performance included the New York City premiere of “Harmony in Blue and Gold,” composed by Eric Ewazen and commissioned by Femme Flutale.

Ms da Silva Heit is a graduate of Newtown High School and Western Connecticut State University. She currently resides in Maryland.

The inspiration for MrEwazen for “Harmony in Blue and Gold” came from the elegant and beautiful environment of a room within Gallery 12 of The Freer Gallery in Washington, D.C. The room, painted in shades of blue and gold and called “Harmony in Blue and Gold,” is more commonly known as Whistler’s “Peacock Room” because of its magnificent peacock mural and paintings. Once the dining room of British shipping magnate Frederick Leyland, the room was redesigned by James McNeill Whistler in 1876. The room was designed to showcase both Whistler’s original paintings, and Leyland’s porcelain collection.

The room is currently undergoing renovation and will reopen in the Spring of 2013.

The twenty minute composition is in four movements The first movement, “La Princesse du Pays de la Porcelaine,” showcases the painting “Princess from the Land of Porcelain.” The second movement, “Counterpoint of Color,” depicts the colors, shapes, textures and design of the room. The third movement, “The Artisans,” portrays the elegance of pure white and blue porcelain in their wooden niches. The fourth movement, “The Fighting Peacocks,” portrays the flurry of feathers of fighting peacocks which in the mural symbolizes the feud that the artist, Whistler, had with his patron, Leyland.

Very well known in the Brass World, and more recently in demand in the flute world, “Harmony in Blue and Gold” is Eric Ewazen’s very first flute quartet. The work received its world premiere in 2008 at the Mid-Atlantic Flute Fair in Reston, Va. It is to be published in 2012 by Theodore Pressor.

The Juilliard recital earlier this month also included the performances of “Gold Coast Harmony” (for two horns and piano), “Scenes de Flandres,” the US premiere by TrombonissimO, a trombone quartet from north eastern France, and “On Wings of Spring” (for flute and piano).