Trio for 2 Clarinets and Bassoon, Op. 54 – Swan Hennessy – Royer/Newman/Royer 

Composed by Swan Hennessy; Performed by Kaye Royer, clarinet / Barbara Newman, clarinet / Ronald Royer, cello Video and audio edited and produced by Devin Scott.

In this performance, the Bassoon part is played by celloist and SPO Music Director, Mr. Ronald Royer. Edward Swan Hennessy (24 November 1866 – 26 October 1929) was an Irish-American composer and pianist who lived much of his life in Paris. In his pre-War piano music, he excelled as a miniaturist in descriptive, programmatic music. After joining a group of Breton composers, he developed a reputation as a “Celtic” composer, drawing on his Irish heritage, writing in a style that was unique in a French as well as an Irish context. Even though he has been almost forgotten after 1950, his music was applauded by contemporary French music critics including Henri Collet, Louis Vuillemin, Émile Vuillermoz and Lucien Chevaillier. In some works, he used jazz elements and took inspiration from funfairs and industrial noise, anticipating trends associated with the group of “Les Six”. [Source: Wikipedia]

To learn more about the composer, Swan Hennessy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan_He…

Hommage à Manuel de Falla – Béla Kovács – Kaye Royer 

Béla Kovács, composer; Kaye Royer, clarinet

Béla Kovács (born May 1, 1937 in Tatabánya, Hungary) is a Hungarian clarinetist. He graduated from the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary. He was principal clarinetist with the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra and the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra since 1956, until he retired in 1981. Kovács has been a Professor of Clarinet at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest and at the University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Graz, Austria. He has also composed a set of concert etudes for clarinet called “Hommages” that are written in the style of a number of different composers and are studied and/or performed widely today. To learn more about Kaye Royer, visit: https://kayeroyer.com