Published: May 2011
In 2010, music professor Thomas Oboe Lee composed the Vincent Millay Cycle, six pieces for piano and soprano, drawing on poems by the American Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950). He wrote the cycle for a former student, soprano Mary Hubbell ’97, to be performed as part of her doctor of musical arts recital at the City University of New York. On April 7, Hubbell returned to Bapst Library’s Gargan Hall to deliver the Boston premiere. Afterward, she and Lee discussed the collaborative process with @BC.
Thomas Oboe Lee has been on the music faculty since 1990 and has composed more than 130 works, including symphonies, string quartets, choral works, song cycles, and a 100-minute, two-act chamber opera. His awards include the Rome Prize Fellowship, the Charles Ives Fellowship, two Guggenheim Fellowships, and two National Endowment for the Arts Composers Fellowships. His music is recorded on GM, MCA Classics, Nonesuch, and Northeastern records.
Mary Hubbell is on the faculty of the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. She holds advanced degrees from the University of California at Santa Barbara and the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and has been a soloist with the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, Musica Viva, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
Jeremiah McGrann, who provides commentary in this video, is director of undergraduate studies in the music department.
Katya Mihailova performs on piano.
Bonus track (complete):
“Never may the fruit be plucked” (2:55)
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