John Ferrillo, BSO Principal Oboist, Named Honorary Member

John Ferillo
Guest Artist, oboe

Following a performance at Fruitlands Museum, his third appearance with the Concord Band during our 2015–2016 season, John Ferrillo, principal oboist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, was surprised with a framed certificate naming him an Honorary Member of the Band—only the second artist so designated—“by acclamation of its members in recognition of his generous spirit and enthusiasm for his favorite concert band”. John was also given a Concord Band polo shirt, which he was reported by the daughter of one of our members to be wearing at a BSO rehearsal on Friday, July 23.

Holiday Pops with the Concord Band

Featuring Guest Artist John Ferrillo
Principal Oboe with the BSO

December 11 & 12, 2015

Review by Vanessa Rene

The Concord Band has proven once again that music makes the holidays brighter with their annual Holiday Pops program this past weekend. Normally, we don’t write reviews of Pops programs because, after all, they’re Pops programs, right?  This one was completely different, though, through the addition of solo performances by John Ferrillo, Principal Oboist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.  His inspired performances left the audience transfixed, including this reviewer and several of her friends in the audience who are, after all, students of the oboe as well.

The Concord Band is a gem, and the Greater Boston community is very fortunate to have this group as a cornerstone of the community.  They performed several well-known favorites, such as Overture to a Winter Festival by James Curnow (commissioned by the Concord Band in 1995), Chanukah is Here by Calvin Custer, Swingin’ Santa, arranged by William McManus and Auld Lang Syne, a stirring and emotional arrangement of the traditional theme by the late William Toland, founding director of the Concord Band and long-time educator in the Bedford School System.  These winter favorites were played cleanly and crisply, as is to be expected of this high-caliber performing group.

The Band also performed some pieces that were featured in their Autumn Concert:   Old Churches, by Michael Colgrass, Carmina Burana, mvts. 12 and 13, by Carl Orff (band arrangement by J. Krance), and Incantation and Dance, by John Barnes Chance—all intense and compelling pieces.

A new piece, Minor Alterations by David Lovrien, consists of many old favorite Christmas melodies set in a minor mode.  Conducted by Assistant Director Steve Barbas, it is a bit like “Mary Poppins” meets “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” and was thoroughly delightful.

BSO Principal Oboist John Ferrillo to Perform

John Ferrillo
Principal Oboe, Boston Symphony Orchestra

The Concord Band is honored to have John Ferrillo, principal oboe of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, as its soloist for the Holiday Pops concerts on December 11 and 12, 2015. John Ferrillo grew up in Bedford, playing oboe in the concert band of Bedford High School under the Concord Band’s first music director, William M. Toland. Ferrillo will play three numbers for oboe and wind ensemble in his appearance with the Concord Band: Autumn Soliloquy by James Barnes, Gabriel’s Oboe by Ennio Morricone from the 1986 movie The Mission, and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Variations on a Theme by Glinka.

Harvard resident John Ferrillo played oboe in the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra and attended Curtis Institute. Prior to joining the BSO in 2001, Ferrillo was the principal oboe in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He has taught and performed at the Aspen and Waterloo festivals and currently serves on the faculty of the New England Conservatory, Boston University, and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute.

Meet the Double-Reed Section

This group of woodwind instruments is
unified by the pair of reeds that create the
instruments’  sound as air is blown
between them.

THE INSTRUMENTS

The four double-reed instruments are the oboe, English horn, bassoon and contrabassoon. They have, as a group, a distinctive sound, often described as nasal.

The oboe first appeared in the mid-17th century and continued to evolve until the late 19th century, at which point the design and construction of the modern oboe were fully established.

English horn (l)
oboe (r)

While the oboe is the soprano member of the double-reed family, the English horn (or cor Anglais) is the tenor member, sounding a perfect fifth below the oboe. Its bulbous bell gives it a tone that is typically described as more mellow and plaintive than that of the oboe, closer in tonal quality to the oboe d’amore, an early member of the family. It is typically scored only when its unusual tone quality is desired.

contrabassoon (l)
bassoon (r)

The bassoon plays the role of the bass-baritone member of the double-reed family. It has been produced in its modern form since the early 19th century, but increasing demands on capabilities of instruments and players in the 19th century— particularly larger concert halls requiring greater volume—and the rise of virtuoso composer-performers spurred further refinement.

The low-pitched contrabassoon is probably scored so rarely in band music because few musicians—other than those who regularly play the contrabassoon in symphony orchestras—have access to them.