Stand Up! - BSN/PN

Stand Up
for bassoon and piano
by Amber Ferenz (b. 1973) - American composer and bassoonist

This is the printed music.  For the PDF download, click HERE.

ABOUT THE MUSIC

  As many of my pieces do, this sonata has its roots in conversations held at the Glickman-Popkin Bassoon Camp.  In 2025, Lorraine Duso Kitts approached me after the premiere of Burn It Down! (for three bassoons and piano, dealing with female rage) and asked if I might be interested in writing an anti-bullying piece. Having been bullied numerous times in my life, I figured now was as good a time as any to tackle that head on, and agreed wholeheartedly, hoping the experience would be cathartic for us both.

  Lorraine sent me materials outlining some things that had happened to her, and I found her story to be harrowing. Like many of us born female, she’d encountered harsh opposition from multiple sources during her career, and this was sharply painful for her on many levels. I sat with her story and pondered my own experiences of being bullied while working in classical music.

  I have experienced public shaming, discrimination and exclusion by conductors, colleagues and managers, and been made a public example of on multiple occasions by authority figures in academia as well as performance. We talked at length about our experiences, and agreed that this has to stop, and by speaking out, we take the first necessary steps to bring attention to this gigantic elephant in the room.

  Written in three movements, I originally prepared two versions: one for Oboe, English horn, Bassoon and Piano, and a Bassoon and Piano only version. Lorraine has the delightful doubler skill set and it was a really wonderful opportunity to write inclusively for all three instruments in the same piece. We also wanted this piece to be accessible to more folks, and so I created a bassoon-only adaptation, and then had a think- why should the oboists be left out? (That won’t do!) An oboe/English horn edition followed.

  Stand UP! is commissioned for women everywhere. Let it encourage you to find your own voice, your own strength, and your own bravery so you can take the needed steps to speak out, defend yourself, and help others to do the same. Together, we can put a stop to this beastly uncivilized behavior.

There are three movements:

I. The Bullying
II. Grievances
III. Healing

  Additionally, Lorraine and I are thankful for the work of Katherine Needleman, who tirelessly wades through oceans of excrement dished out by men and complicit women while holding the spotlight firmly on the massive amounts of bullying, misogyny, and discrimination rampant in classical music.

- Amber Ferenz
Asheville, NC 2026

ABOUT THE COMPOSER

Amber Ferenz is a nonbinary, queer bassoonist and award-winning composer and arranger. Inspired deeply by the beauty, magic and mystery of the natural world, they often write pieces that weave together melodies and healing songs given by Nature with their own musical ideas. They also delight in tackling emotionally challenging material, and feel that music is a vehicle for the universal energies of transformation, catharsis, and healing.

Amber is a founding member of Elektra Winds and Queen City Winds as well as the bassoon and harp collective Voices In the Wood. They are second bassoonist with the Asheville Symphony and the former third/contra bassoonist for the Greensboro Symphony. They serve on the Board of the Bassoon Chamber Music Composition Competition (BCMCC) and have been the Camp Coordinator for the Glickman-Popkin Bassoon Camp since 2007. TrevCo Music publishes Amber’s entire wind music catalogue.