Where Do Children Come From? - OB/PN

Where Do Children Come From?
for oboe and piano
by Alyssa Morris, American composer and oboist
I. The Circus
II. Outer Space
III. A Higher Place
IV. Grace

Commissioned in 2012 by Aryn Day Sweeney. This four-movement work (15 minutes in length), seeks to answer the title’s question. Movements include The Circus, Outer Space, A Higher Place, and Grace. Where Do Children Come From? was selected to be performed at the 2013 Society of Composers Inc. National Conference. Aryn Day Sweeney performed the work at the SCI Convention in March 2013. Dr. Sweeney performed the work at the 2014 International Double Reed Conference, at New York University. 

ABOUT THE COMPOSER:

Alyssa Morris has delighted audiences around the world with her “exceptional” and “soulful” musicianship (Fanfare Magazine). Alyssa serves as Assistant Professor of Oboe at Kansas State University and as the principal oboist of the Topeka Symphony Orchestra and Wichita Grand Opera.  She has appeared as a soloist in venues throughout the United States, Scandinavia, the British Isles, and Western Europe.  Alyssa has previously held the position of Associate Principal Oboe in the Richmond (IN) Symphony Orchestra, and second oboe in the Utah Wind Symphony.  Her recent CD album release via MSR Classics, “A Higher Place,” has been hailed by American Record Guide as “gorgeous and thoughtful” with “stunning” performances, “unmistakable…virtuosity” and “deft emotional timing.” 

Regarding her equally expansive work as a composer, the American Record Guide writes that Dr. Morris’s music “has charm, piquancy, verve, and most importantly, substance.” Her chamber music is performed extensively around the world, and has been presented at the national and international conventions of IDRS, ICA, NFA, and SCI.  Dr. Morris is an International Barlow Composition Commission Award Winner.  She has additionally been commissioned to write music for the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, the U.S. Air Force Woodwind Quintet, and Carolyn Hove (principal English horn of the Los Angeles Philharmonic) to name a few. Dr. Morris’s music has been recorded on the Equilibrium, Centaur, and MSR Classics labels.

Dr. Morris earned her BM and MM degrees at Brigham Young University, where she studied with Dr. Geralyn Giovannetti. She earned her DMA at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music where she studied with Dr. Mark Ostoich. 

For more information, please visit the composer's website at: http://www.alyssamorrismusic.com/