My good friends nephew, David Sogg, is co-principal bassoon player with the renowned Pittsburg Symphony Orchestra and he will be a special guest performer with the Everett Symphony Friday, Feb. 9 in a chamber performance, The Mozart Effect at the First Presbyterian Church in Everett.
Sogg has been with the Pittsburg Symphony Orchestra since 1989 and Dr. Paul-Elliot Cobbs is very excited about the upcoming performance.
The Pittsburg Symphony is a top symphony of the world, Cobbs said, adding that Soggs aunt [my friend] works with Dan Squires, one of Everett Symphonys board members, at the county prosecutors office.
She suggested to Dan, you should talk to my nephew a bassoonist with the Pittsburg Symphony.
Cobbs first thought was oh yes, I am sure. All aunts think their nephew is good, but then after hearing some recordings and speaking with Sogg, Cobbs realized he is indeed a talented musician.
Sogg will perform with a select chamber ensemble from the Everett Symphony for the ES annual chamber performance, under direction by Cobbs himself.
Each year we do one or two concerts in the church, Cobbs said, adding it provides an opportunity to play a different assortment of music in a more intimate situation.
Sogg will perform the Mozart Bassoon Concerto, one of few works written for the bassoon, a large double reed instrument with a very deep and somber sound.
David also suggested two pieces for bassoon by Ritter that he discovered while in Germany, Cobbs said, noting that the Everett Symphonys principal bassoonist, Judy Lowen, will join in on that one.
Its written in the style of Mozart, about the same time he lived.
The concert will open with the Everett Symphonys strings section performing a Bach cantata that was written for voice but is often done with just strings, Cobbs said.
The conclude, the symphony will do the Mozart Symphony No. 25, small G-minor
Its a very popular piece from his stormy period with parts for four horns, said the conductor.
David sounds like a very nice guy, Cobbs said.
Raised in San Jose, Calif., David Sogg studied with Jerry Dagg of the San Francisco Opera as a junior high school student. After graduating from Harvard College with a major in German literature, Sogg studied with Boston Symphonys Sherman Walt, then with Guenter Piesk of the Berlin Philharmonic and finally with Norman Herzberg, to receive a Master of Music from the University of Southern California. After two summer fellowships at the Tanglewood Music Center and a fellowship from the Frank Huntington Beebe Fund for Musicians, he began his professional career, starting as principal bassoon of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and playing with the Omaha Symphony and Chamber Orchestra, before scoring a place with the renowned Pittsburg Symphony.
He has appeared on numerous occasions with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Minnesota Orchestra, the San Diego Symphony, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
A founding member of the summer Brightstar Music Festival in Charlotte, North Carolina, and a frequent performer with the Pittsburgh Chamber Music Project, Sogg is a proponent of the performance of contemporary music. He has performed contemporary American, Chinese, French, and Russian pieces for his peers at the International Double Reed Society conferences.
In recent years he has performed recitals in Pittsburgh, San Jose, and Tallahassee, as well as at Duquesne University Mary Pappert School of Music where he is a member of the performance faculty. David has offered master classes in Boston, San Jose, and the Peoples Republic of China, and has attracted students from around the U.S, and from Bulgaria and Venezuela.
With his wife, Lisa Parker, a philosopher who teaches at the University of Pittsburgh, Sogg enjoys Pittsburghs many theater, opera and chamber music opportunities, and each summer he enjoys a long-distance bicycle tour somewhere in the world.