Mary Elizabeth Bowden
WFMT hosted trumpeter Mary Elizabeth Bowden for a special appearance on Sounds Classical. The star artist spoke with hosts Kristina Lynn and LaRob K. Rafael about what "classical" sounds like to her, and while in the building, performed selections by Amy Beach and Claude Debussy.
Alongside pianist Marta Aznavoorian, Bowden first shared two pieces by Debussy, neither of which were written for trumpet. First, she shared a trumpet setting of "Beau soir," (meaning "Beautiful Evening"), an art song whose text comes from a transportive poem by Paul Bourget. Next, Bowden and Aznavoorian shared a setting of Rêverie, which was originally written just for piano.
Then, the duo returned to the realm of poetry with a performance of Amy Beach's Three Browning Songs. Each piece sets poems by Robert Browning, a 19th-century English poet. Though not originally written for the instrument, the trumpet — and Bowden's playing — makes for a natural pairing.
