Professor Gamerl was recognized for her English horn work on the Midwestern premiere of Dame Ethel Smyth’s Overture to Act II of The Wreckers, with her recently acquired Laubin English Horn. The instrument was purchased from Pedro Diaz of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. The ‘Red English Horn’ is noted for its history, similar to that of the Red Violin. The maker, Paul Laubin, injured himself badly during the construction of the instrument – which is made of rare Brazilian cocobolo, a wood known for its reddish hue, and sonorous, warm tone color.
“Under the baton of music director Dirk Meyer, the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra took an aural vacation to the complexity of the British Isles Saturday night for its fourth Masterworks concert of the season at Symphony Hall. Opening the evening was a selection never previously played by the orchestra, “On the Cliffs of Cornwall,” the prelude to the second act of Ethyl Smyth’s opera “The Wreckers.” The opera is set in a fishing village where the townspeople lure ships onto the rocky coast for plunder. It’s a delightfully complex and beautiful piece of music, notable for the instrumentation duplicating the rolling sound of the wind and waves with subdued timpani and the gentle ripples of the harp. Sounds of the seaside coast were punctuated by ships’ horns coming from the pointed notes of horns and brass within the orchestra. It was a captivating bit of symphonic storytelling ending with a forlorn and quiet oboe (English horn)— one of the more emotional instruments…”– Duluth News Tribune, February, 2019
School of Music 