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I Close My Eyes in Order to See
Arthur M. Bachmann composer
Kent Kennan composer
Harry Somers composer
Henry Wolking composer
André Jolivet composer
Gabriel Fauré composer
Efraín Amaya composer
Sara Hahn flute
Laura Loewen piano
Sarah Gieck flute
With her Navona debut I CLOSE MY EYES IN ORDER TO SEE, accomplished Canadian flutist Sara Hahn demonstrates her exceptional sensitivity for emotional nuance coupled with great virtuosic capability, but most of all: the healing power of music itself.
Hahn, currently the Principal Flutist for the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, is rightly known for her refined and beautiful tone, and I CLOSE MY EYES TO SEE indubitably attests to this. But extraordinarily, there is even more to Hahn’s musicianship: An exquisite ability to get right into the heart of a composition.
No doubt this is in part due to the highly personal selection of pieces: The album’s eponymous opening track, I Close My Eyes To See, was dedicated to Hahn by composer Arthur Bachmann, written to commemorate her mother’s hard (but eventually successful) battle with cancer.
Indeed, the compositions of this album center around perhaps the greatest, and most universal, challenge of the human condition: overcoming Fate’s hardships. In this spirit, the individual musical pieces represent emotions such as fear, sadness, the desire to bargain, and depression and anger are reached with the help of mental fortitude and spirituality – all culminating, inspiringly, in acceptance and optimism.
Sara Hahn’s interpretation of these wildly diverse sentiments is nothing short of riveting and, towards the album’s cheerful conclusion, supremely uplifting. In this sublime feat, pianist Laura Loewen and alto flutist Sarah Gieck, who both accompany with fitting delicacy, add great musical depth.
I CLOSE MY EYES TO SEE is an aesthetic feast for the ears, no doubt; but its true strength lies in having encapsulated not only a timeless constant of the human experience – suffering – but also a viable, feasible way to overcome it.
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Artist Information
Sara Hahn
Hailed by the Calgary Herald as having “beauty of tone and a wonderfully flexible phrasing”, Sara Hahn has been Principal Flute for the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) since 2006. In 2005 she was Assistant Principal Flute/Piccolo with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and in 2002 she completed a three week tour of Japan and Hong Kong with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada.
Henry Wolking
Native Floridian Henry Wolking (1948) is a composer, trombonist, conductor, teacher, and author. He completed his Bachelor Degree in music education from the University of Florida, and Master of Music in Composition at the University of North Texas in 1971. At the age of 24, he began his teaching career as head of the jazz area at the University of Utah. He retired in 2011 and is a University Professor Emeritus Of Music. He is the recipient of the 2018 School of Music Camerata Award, which celebrates the contributions of musicians and patrons of the arts to the University of Utah and broader community. He maintains a busy schedule of writing and arranging for classical and jazz groups. There are currently over 75 of his jazz works in the Walrus/EJazzlines online catalog.
