ICIYL: 5 Questions to Mary Elizabeth Bowden (trumpeter)
The sound of the trumpet has long indicated we’re on the precipice of something – announcements of a future that looms close, of someone just beyond the horizon. An enemy, an ally. On Storyteller: Contemporary Concertos for Trumpet, soloist Mary Elizabeth Bowden advocates for a future of trumpet repertoire that includes collaboration across disciplines, mediums, and ages. Released June 14 on Cedille Records, the album features Bowden with the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra (CYSO) and conductor Allen Tinkham in support – they present world premiere recordings of pieces by James M. Stephenson, Clarice Assad, Vivian Fung, Tyson Gholston Davis, Sarah Kirkland Snider, and Reena Esmail.
Two of the pieces reflect Bowden’s own life and experience as a woman in a male-dominated field; in fact, each piece on the album draws inspiration from an artist and storyteller in their own right, weaving vulnerability and variety throughout the project. Bowden’s collaborations and aims here bolster her larger artistic ethos and investments in highlighting artists from historically marginalized/underrepresented groups and expanding trumpet repertoire, which she pursues across other projects such as Seraph Bass and the Chrysalis Chamber Players.
Stephenson’s The Storyteller opens the album with Barber-esque, meandering gestures, which Bowden realizes with a serene and emotive tone as the trumpet emerges from the orchestral mist. Bohemian Queen (Assad) and Veiled Light (David) respond to paintings with respective jazz and impressionistic touches, accentuating the singing capabilities of the instrument and expressing both light and jagged shadow. And in her new arrangement of Caritas, originally written for mezzo soprano, Snider rocks us on a bed of strings, and Bowden leans into the songlike form of the piece with the lower mid-range of her instrument.
We chatted with Bowden about this record, her approach to collaboration, and her hopes for the concerto form.
