MetSO's Yonna Sunderland
Yonna
Sunderland
The Loree oboe out of it’s case, and a few reed cases.
What instrument do you play with the MetSO?
Oboe.
Do you play any other instruments?
Piano and Organ.
What instrument would you secretly like to play?
Trumpet.
How many years have you played with MetSO?
2 years.
How do you support your musical life?
I work in Governance in the training sector.
A pic of my baroque oboe which plays at 415 not 440. It has mostly holes not keys, and uses different reeds to the modern oboe.
Favourite Opera?
Armide by Lully.
Favourite 3 Symphonies?
Stravinsky Symphony on C
Mozart Symphony No. 39
Brahms 4
Favourite Concertos?
Chopin and Prokofiev Piano Concertos.
Favourite 3 Composers of all time?
Handel
Bach
Stravinsky
Favourite 20th Century Composer?
Arvo Pärt
Favourite Australian Composer?
Peter Sculthorpe
Favourite Western Australian Composers?
James Ledger & Ian Grandage.
Favourite 3 instruments by sound quality/ timbre?
Viola
Piano
Oboe
Favourite movie soundtrack?
The Piano
Least Favourite lift music?
Baroque - it cheapens the music to become muzak.
Favourite scale?
C minor
An assortment of modern oboe reeds both long and short scrape - being tested and put in order of best to worst - along with reed soaking cups of water, and a book to have a little read when I need a break from breaking in reeds.
Best Practice Tips?
Mime tricky fingering bits away from the instrument.
Have spare reeds.
Worst instrument failure on stage?
Oboe breaking just before a concert and also
scraping a reed too much just before a concerto performance with WASO so that the reed didn’t work aagh.
What was your most embarrassing moment on stage and how did you get through it?
Coping with the two instances above.
For the first one I had to improvise and play piano instead of oboe with the flute and the cellist instead -
so the concert went from a trio concert of flute, oboe and cello -
to a trio concert of flute, voice and piano when they brought a keyboard in from someone’s house to the town hall.The second re the reed was major stress playing a concerto with a very bad reed
– I still grimace at the memory
20 of my baroque oboe reeds -which are mostly long scrape - again in order of best to worst. The other side of the reed case has another 20 reeds!
What do you sing in the shower?
Rock Balads.
What do you like to eat before a performance?
Nothing – need space for the diaphragm to do it’s thing and support.
What is the most embarrassing thing we would find in your fridge?
Stuff past 2 years old.
When do you like to listen to music?
In the car.
What music most inspires you?
Baroque.
What music will get you moving?
Pop.
What makes you the happiest in your musical life?
Playing with others.
Yonna’s Kit - This pic has it all - baroque and modern oboe with reeds, reed cases, the swab to clean out the oboes after playing, and even reed making tools laid out - a real hard core reed day for both modern and baroque oboe it seems on that occasion - with reed adjustments going on that I used the tools for.