A native of Rio de Janeiro, composer and pianist Clarice Assad was born into one of Brazil's well-known musical families: Her father, Sergio, and her uncle Odair Assad are a guitar duo who have performed worldwide. Clarice started her formal piano studies in Brazil and continued at Boston's Berklee School of Music and Roosevelt University in Chicago. She holds a Masters of Music in Composition from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where her Violin Concerto served as her thesis. After graduation she moved to New York, working as composer, arranger, teacher, pianist and singer.

Assad composed the Trumpet Concerto in 2022 for the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and trumpeter Mary Elizabeth Bowden, an alumna. According to Assad, the inspiration was surrealist painter Gertrude Abercrombie (1909-1977), based in Chicago and often called the queen of the bohemian artists: “Abercrombie’s paintings are characterized by their use of dreamlike symbolism and careful attention to detail. She was profoundly interested in the jazz scene and friends with no less than musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Sarah Vaughan.”

The Concerto is in three movements. The first two were inspired by two of Abercrombie's paintings, Girl Searching  and The Troll. The third, Hyde Park Jam is an imaginary depiction of Abercrombie's memorable parties where she used to sit in as a pianist herself and play with jazz’s greatest masters.

Bowden commissioned this work with the following consortium members:
Akron Symphony Orchestra, Albany Symphony Orchestra (GA), Austin Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, Lexington Philharmonic, Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra, Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra, Wichita Falls Symphony Orchestra, Wintergreen Music Festival

Joseph & Elizabeth Kahn
Wordpros@mindspring.com
www.wordprosmusic.com