After a Labor Day pause, the University of Arkansas Music Monday series picks back up this approaching Monday. Theresa Delaplain, oboist and associate professor of music at the University of Arkansas, will host Courtney Miller. Miller is an oboist and professor of oboe at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro. The concert will take place in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall on the UofA campus. Ozarks at Large's Sophia Nourani spoke with Tess Delaplain about the significance of this upcoming collaboration with Courtney Miller, and how Theresa Delaplain herself first became involved with the oboe.
Theresa Delaplain has taught the oboe at the University of Arkansas for over 30 years. She first began to play the oboe as a child growing up in River Falls, Wisconsin. In fourth grade, her father signed her up for orchestra. She played the violin when she moved to junior high. Her school didn't have an orchestra.
"So I switched to oboe because I had heard an oboe in our elementary orchestra, and I really liked the way it sounded.
"I was in, I think, ninth grade when I decided, I really like doing this, and I want to figure out a way to do this as a career. And so that involved majoring in music and getting three degrees in music and more specifically in oboe performance. It's really led to a career that's had a lot of variety, because I get to do the teaching and it's just really rewarding to see students grow and learn and be excited about learning."
Part of that rewarding work includes being a founding organizer of SHE Festival, an annual event held at the UofA meant to uplift works written by female artists.
"It's a way of getting ourselves as musicians and the general public to be aware that there are women that write music, and there are women that write really good music that's worth being heard," Delaplain said. "It's been really good to see it grow. And every year we reevaluate what we did and figure out what we can do better. And it's also been a good way to connect with my female associates that are on the committee and in the planning of it."
As part of another female-led collaborative effort, Delaplain is hosting next week's Music Monday performer, oboist and University of North Carolina Greensboro professor Courtney Miller. She will be performing next week at the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall and hosting a master class for Delaplain's students.
"We haven't performed together, but we've known each other for a while and we got to know each other through the Midwest Double Reed Society. At that time, she was teaching at the University of Iowa, so she was in the Midwest, and now she's a professor at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro. So she's been there for several years.
"We're doing an exchange, and I went there and gave a concert last spring. And so she's coming Sept. 14, and she's giving a concert in Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall. Courtney has a heritage from Portugal, so she recently released an album called 'Portuguese Perspectives.' And so she's doing some of that music on her concert here. And she's also going to do a class for my students, a master class for my students."
Delaplain says she looks forward to bringing Miller's talent to the stage at Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall next week.
"Courtney is an incredible performer and musician, and I'm really looking forward to hosting her and hearing her concert."
Part of that performance will include a duet between Courtney and Theresa. You can find tickets and more information for that concert at music.uark.edu.
For Ozarks at Large, I'm Sophia Nourani.
Courtney Miller will be a guest artist at the next Music Monday performance in Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall on the University of Arkansas campus this approaching Monday night. The music is scheduled to begin at 7:30. Here is some music to get us ready for Monday night. Courtney Miller, oboe, and Ellen Sommer, piano, performing "Danza Gaya" by Madeleine Dring. This was recorded at the Midwest Double Reed Festival in Lawrence, Kansas, in 2021.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline and edited for length and clarity. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
