Lorée Day at UCLA Recap | January 13, 2020

Posted by Justin Paguio on January 23, 2020

A Lorée Royal 125 Amethyst oboe on display at the Lorée Day at UCLA event

On January 13, 2020, about 50 oboists joined us for Lorée Day at UCLA. Hosted by Dr. Jonathan Davis, professor of oboe at UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, the event featured an orchestral excerpt masterclass, a presentation about the history of Lorée Paris and its current models, and opportunities to play new Lorée instruments.

Led by Sarah Skuster, principal oboe of the San Diego Symphony, the masterclass featured 7 oboists from the Southern California area, all of whom prepared 2 excerpts. They included:

Thacher Schreiber
Jones Sabal
Kyle Kurihara
Will Stevens
Sooyoung Kim
Jason Kennedy
Eli Stefanacci

After a short welcome message by Dr. Davis, Sarah Skuster beautifully performed a mini recital consisting of two pieces. The first selection was Fantasia in A Major by Georg Philipp Telemann; the second selection was Sonatina for Oboe and Piano by Malcolm Arnold, where Ms. Skuster was accompanied by Wendy Caldwell on piano.

Attendees had a chance to meet Alain de Gourdon, President of Lorée Paris, who has been manufacturing Lorée instruments for more than 50 years. Oboists gathered around his workstation in between presentations to not only talk shop, but also to have small adjustments made on their Lorée instruments. Many attendees we spoke to were amazed at how quickly he was able to identify adjustment issues and correct them. Alain also had the spotlight on the Shoenberg Hall stage immediately after Sarah Skuster's mini recital. He spoke about the history of the Lorée company and went into detail about when each model was introduced and how they make up the current lineup of available models today.

A selection of Lorée oboes were available for all attendees to try. We were lucky to see a couple models that we don't get to see too often- the Lorée Royal 125 Amethyst oboe and Lorée Royal 125 English horn.

Ok, enough words form us. We'd like photos from the event to tell the rest of the story. All photos were taken by Joseph Paguio. Be prepared to scroll for a while...we promise that it's worth it!

An event program at registration

A collection of Lorée oboes and English horns waiting for attendees to play test

Holly and Justin P. handing badges to attendees

Alain de Gourdon makes adjustments on an attendee's Lorée oboe

Dr. Jonathan Davis welcomes attendees before the recital

Wendy Caldwell accompanies Sarah Skuster during a mini recital

Alain de Gourdon presenting the history of the Lorée Paris

A question from the audience

Sarah Skuster and Nancy Huang, president of RDG Woodwinds

Schoenberg Hall during the masterclass

Thacher Schreiber plays Don Juan by Strauss

Jones Sabal plays Pulcinella Suite by Stravinsky

Kyle Kurihara plays Cantata BWV 12 by J.S. Bach and Symphony No. 3 by Mendelssohn

Will Stevens plays La Scala di Seta by Rossini and Cantata No. 202 "Wedding Cantata" by J.S. Bach
Sooyoung Kim plays Symphony No. 3 by Beethoven and Symphony No. 4 by Tchaikovsky