October 25, 2026 ı 3:00pm, Atkinson recital hall
the charles schwab opening night concert
Music for flute, oboe, and piano
The Program
philippe gaubert
Tarantelle for Flute, Oboe, and Piano
Sonatine, arranged for Oboe and Piano (1905)
Maurice ravel
francis poulenc
Sonata for Flute and Piano (1957)
francis poulenc
Sonata for Oboe and Piano (1962)
pierre sancan
Sonatine for Flute and Piano (1946)
jean-philippe rameau (arr. blanchard)
Gavotte and Six Doubles (1726)
James dion blanchard
Flutist James Dion Blanchard has held the role of Principal Flute with Opera San Jose, and the Des Moines Symphony, and has performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, Symphony San Jose, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Des Moines Metro Opera, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Philadelphia Ballet, and Memphis Symphony Orchestra.
A founding member of two award-winning woodwind quintets, James received Bronze Medals at the 2015 and 2018 Fischoff International Chamber Music Competitions. As a soloist, James has won prizes in the New York Flute Club’s young artist competition, the Texas Music Festival young artist competition, and was a prize winner in the 2019 Keston MAX competition.
As a conductor, James has been a frequent guest of the Orchestra Society of Philadelphia, and has appeared as cover conductor with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, California Symphony, Symphony San Jose, and Las Cruces Symphony Orchestra. He has participated in conducting masterclasses led by Matthew Lynch and Neil Thomson. James studies privately with Dr. Michael Mapp, the Associate Professor of Music at New Mexico State University.
James studied flute performance at the Juilliard School as a student of Robert Langevin, and at Rice University as a student of Leone Buyse. James is a Haynes Artist and plays a 5% Gold Custom Haynes. He is a native of Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Oboist Tamer Edlebi joined the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra as assistant principal oboe in the 2018–2019 season. He has appeared as guest principal oboe with the Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Utah Symphony, and has performed with the Houston Symphony, New York Philharmonic, and the Houston Grand Opera and Ballet Orchestras.
Edlebi has participated in numerous summer festivals, including the Kent Blossom Music Festival and four summers at the Aspen Music Festival and School, where he studied with Richard Woodhams and Elaine Douvas. He served as principal oboe of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería in Mexico City in 2018, performing both standard orchestral repertoire and contemporary works by Mexican composers, and appeared as a guest artist at the Tippet Rise Art Center in 2024 and Arizona Musicfest in 2025.
A founding member of the Prismatics Woodwind Quintet, Edlebi was a prizewinner at the 2015 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. In 2017, he was named a Zarin Mehta Fellow through the New York Philharmonic’s Global Academy partnership with Rice University.
Tamer holds a Bachelor’s degree from Chapman University where he studied with Ariana Ghez, completed a Professional Studies Diploma from the Cleveland Institute of Music under the tutelage of Frank Rosenwein, and a Master’s degree from Rice University as a student of Robert Atherholt.
Tamer edlebi
American composer-keyboardist Forrest Eimold has been hailed by Gramophone for interpretations that are “never other than authoritative in terms of their technical acuity or their interpretive insight”; The Boston Musical Intelligencer has described his work as “incredible” and “fearless”; and The Washington Post has commended him for having “ably responded to the many virtuosic demands” of today’s compositional vanguard.
As a performer, Forrest first gained notice at age 13 for having performed Olivier Messiaen’s two-hour organ cycle, the Livre du Saint-Sacrement. His collaborators have since included luminaries such as Gerald Barry, Leonid Hrabovsky, Judith Weir, and Michael Finnissy; his double-album recording of the latter’s complete organ works, released in 2025, has garnered praise across publications ranging from BBC Music Magazine to Choir & Organ. A passionate advocate for historically informed performance practice, too, he regularly plays continuo for the Grammy-nominated Trinity Baroque Orchestra in New York City, contributing to what The New York Times has hailed as “the best Messiah in New York.” He has studied with Stephen Drury, Arthur Haas, Rodney Lister, Julian Martin, John Robinson, and Marc Ryser, and has participated in festivals under the tutelage of Thomas Adès, Joanna MacGregor, and Ursula Oppens.
Forrest is currently a doctoral candidate at the Yale School of Music.
Forrest eimold
