Briefly Gorgeous Oliver Talukder & Moriah Trenk

• Jeffrey Agrell: Blues for D.D.:
• 1 Agrell: Blues for D.D. 03:25
• Marina Dranishnikova (1929 - 1994): Poème:
• 2 Dranishnikova: Poème 08:21
• Alyssa Morris (b. 1984): Four Personalities:
• 3 Morris: Four Personalities: I. Yellow 02:30
• 4 Morris: Four Personalities: II. White 03:00
• 5 Morris: Four Personalities: III. Blue 02:40
• 6 Morris: Four Personalities: IV. Red 02:20
• Five Songs:
• 7 Morris: Five Songs: Night 01:48
• 8 Morris: Five Songs: I Grew a Rose 03:46
• 9 Morris: Five Songs: What's the Use? 01:19
• 10 Morris: Five Songs: To My Little Son 01:37
• 11 Morris: Five Songs: Hold Fast To Dreams 01:54
• Reena Esmail (b. 1983): Jhula Jhule:
• 12 Esmail: Jhula Jhule 09:59
• Arturo Márquez (b. 1950): Danzón No. 2:
• 13 Márquez: Danzón No. 2 07:59
• Total Runtime 50:38

Info zu Briefly Gorgeous

Winner of Cedille Records’ 2025 Emerging Artist Competition, Chicago-born oboist Oliver Talukder makes his solo recording debut with Briefly Gorgeous. Joined by pianist Moriah Trenk, Talukder presents an album inspired by themes of identity, love, family, and belonging. Drawing on his Mexican and Bengali heritage and his Chicago upbringing, the program explores where classical music intersects with Latino and South Asian traditions, creating a musical portrait shaped by Talukder’s own story.

A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music currently pursuing graduate studies at The Juilliard School, Talukder performs on oboe, English horn, flute, and piccolo, bringing exceptional versatility to imaginative programming, original arrangements, and the music of diverse composers. Taking its title from Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, the album brings together works by Jeffrey Agrell, Marina Dranishnikova, Alyssa Morris, Florence Price, Reena Esmail, and Arturo Márquez that mirror Talukder’s own artistic journey, revealing a musical voice shaped as much by experience as by technical virtuosity.

Jeffrey Agrell’s Blues for D.D. pushes the oboe to its technical and stylistic limits, blending blues, swing, bebop, and Latin rhythms into a dazzling showpiece that showcases Talukder’s remarkable versatility. Marina Dranishnikova’s Poème reveals one of the 20th century’s overlooked musical voices through a deeply expressive meditation on love, longing, and loss, offering a striking contrast to the album’s more extroverted works. Morris’s Four Personalities transforms the four archetypes of the Hartman Personality Test into vivid musical portraits, capturing the contrasting energies of “Yellow,” “White,” “Blue,” and “Red” through four distinctive movements.

Talukder contributes two original arrangements that broaden the repertoire for the woodwind family. The five songs by Florence Price feature Talukder alternating between oboe and English horn, bringing new colors to the composer’s vocal writing, while Arturo Márquez’s Danzón No. 2 showcases his command of flute and piccolo (as well as oboe and English horn). Esmail’s Jhula Jhule offers a poignant exploration of heritage and memory, weaving together Indian folk melodies passed down through the composer’s family and reflecting her journey between Indian and Western musical traditions.

Cedille Records’ Emerging Artist Competition, sponsored by the Zell Family Foundation, awards an exceptional Chicago-based musician a fully funded solo recording debut, introducing their artistry to audiences around the world. Briefly Gorgeous was produced by James Ginsburg and engineered by Bill Maylone. The album was recorded September 29–October 1, 2025 at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago.

Oliver Talukder, oboe
Moriah Trenk, piano

Oliver Talukder
is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, and teaching artist of Mexican and Bengali heritage. Through his performances, recordings, and creative projects, he explores the intersections of classical music, cultural identity, and storytelling. Equally at home on the stage and in community-centered collaborations, Talukder is committed to creating musical experiences that are both artistically compelling and deeply human.

Talukder currently serves as Second Oboist of the Opera Philadelphia Orchestra and has appeared as a guest musician with the Chicago, Baltimore, Atlanta, and St. Louis Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Symphony in C, and Civic Orchestra of Chicago.

In 2025, Talukder won Cedille Record’s second Emerging Artist Competition, earning a recording contract for his debut solo album, Briefly Gorgeous. James Ginsburg, Cedille Records founder and President, remarked, “What made Oliver stand out was an innate musicality and imagination in his musical choices… He has a knack for communicating to and really communing with the audience.”

Inspired by his multicultural upbringing in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, his debut album explores themes of identity, love, and family. Reviewing an early performance of the program, Gramophone praised Talukder’s “stylistically persuasive, refreshingly open-eared approach to music making”; added that he “joyously blew past boundaries separating classical, jazz and populist musical idioms”; and concluded by calling him “a welcome new voice in music.”

His early musical foundation was laid during his time with the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras, The People’s Music School, the Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative, and Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra of the USA. Talukder’s honors also include First Prize in the 2022 Midwest Double Reed Society Competition and Outstanding Instrumentalist at the 2024 and 2026 Sphinx Orchestral Partners Audition (SOPA) Competition.

A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Katherine Needleman, Philippe Tondre, and Richard Woodhams, Talukder was named the 2024 Presser Scholar and served as Student Council President. Talukder is currently pursuing his Master’s degree in Oboe Performance at The Juilliard School under the guidance of Elaine Douvas. His previous teachers include William Welter, Xiomara Mass, Toyin Spellman-Diaz, Robert Walters, Elizabeth Koch Tiscione, Lindsay Wiley, and Jennifer Stucki. While at Curtis, he held the William S. Mulherin and Joseph F. Baker Fellowship.

Moriah Trenk
Praised for her “fluid and graceful style” (Villages-News.com), pianist Moriah Trenk maintains a vibrant career as a highly sought-after soloist, chamber musician, and collaborative artist. A deeply dedicated collaborator, Trenk has performed at premier venues and concert series nationwide including Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall, Bargemusic, Jordan Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. She works extensively with both the New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre and as a staff pianist at The Juilliard School. At the New York City Ballet, she recently served as a rehearsal pianist in close collaboration with violinist Hilary Hahn on dancer/choreographer Tiler Peck’s new ballet set to Eduard Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole.

Trenk has also served as Company Pianist at the Philadelphia Ballet and collaborated with BalletX, Boston Ballet, New Jersey Ballet, Mark Morris Dance Group, and New York Theatre Ballet. Committed to civic engagement and community outreach, she is a frequent performer with Concerts in Motion, has performed with Boston’s Volunteer Musicians for the Arts, and served as an accompanist for Eureka Ensemble’s Women’s Chorus. Trenk’s festival and residency appearances include the Avaloch Farm Music Institute, Manchester Music Festival, Garth Newel Music Center, and National Music Festival. Trenk holds a Master’s degree in Collaborative Piano from the New England Conservatory and a Bachelor’s in Piano Performance from New York University.

Dieses Album enthält kein Booklet