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Community Event: American Music for Saxophone and Piano
Dan Goble currently serves as the director of the School of Music, Theatre and Dance at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado and was previously the Dean of the School of Visual and Performing Arts at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, Connecticut. An arts administrator who is also an active performer, Dr. Goble performed with the New York Philharmonic for over 22 years and was featured with the orchestra as the saxophone soloist on Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, and Ravel’s Bolero, among other works. In addition to the New York Philharmonic, Dr. Goble has performed with the New York City Ballet, The American Symphony Orchestra, The Mariinsky Orchestra, the New York Saxophone Quartet, and the Harvey Pittel Saxophone Quartet.
He has had the privilege of collaborating with pianist Russell Hirshfield for over 20 years, performing the music of contemporary composers throughout the United States and through several recordings, including the album Mad Dances, American Music for Saxophone and Piano (Troy 1251), and the single release of Piet Swerts’ Hat City Sonata (https:open.spotify.comalbum0AQvN9BU1ybkVdtChRxcWT). Other solo and chamber recordings include the album Freeway (CRI 876) and Quartet, Opus 22, by Anton Webern, conducted by Robert Kraft, available on the Naxos label. Their most recent release, Second Flight (NV6634) features the music of Joan Tower, Jennifer Higdon, Philip Glass, John Adams, James David, and David Biedenbender.
Dr. Goble is a proud native of Wyoming and was named distinguished alum of Casper College in his hometown of Casper. His saxophone teachers include Roger Greenberg, Thomas Kinser, Harvey Pittel, and Albert Regni. Dan Goble is a D’Addario performing artist.
Pianist Russell Hirshfield has received critical acclaim for his original and powerful interpretive insights across a wide repertoire. He has performed in recital regularly throughout the world, giving concerts across the United States, Brazil, China, Belgium, England, Serbia, Bermuda, Costa Rica and South Africa, including recent performances at the Sheldonian Theater and Holywell Music Room in Oxford, the Royal Flemish Academy in Brussels and Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. Parma Recordings will release his CD program of American Piano Music in 2025 with premieres of commissioned works by Timo Andres and Mary Ellen Childs. Alexander Scriabin: Early Works (Navona, 2020) has been programed in radio broadcasts in at least twenty countries. It features a brilliant program of Scriabin’s earlier, and lesser-known, works for solo piano. Acclaim for Alexander Scriabin – Early Works, in International Piano, Pianist Magazine and Fanfare led to an invitation to perform the Scriabin Piano Concerto with the Oxford Philharmonic, in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth. His recording Seeker – The Piano Music of Piet Swerts (Phaedra Records) was released in 2017, featured in Europe on Belgian Radio Klara, and received critical acclaim in Holland (Opusklassiek), Belgium (Flanders Art Magazine) and the United States (American Record Guide). Mad Dances – American Music for Saxophone and Piano, with saxophonist Dan Goble, was released by Albany Records.
Russell Hirshfield trained in New Haven, Connecticut and later studied at the Eastman School of Music, Boston University, and the University of Colorado, studying with Robert Spillman, James Avery, Anthony di Bonaventura and Alvin Chow. He is Professor of Music at Western Connecticut State University. Hirshfield has presented master classes and conference lectures throughout the United States and abroad. He was a member of the Artist Faculty for the 2022 Bermuda Piano Festival and also presented at the 2019 International Piano Festival in Bačka Palanka, Serbia, the 2015 Piano Master Class Series at New York University, and the 2013 Oxford Piano Festival.
