The International Double Reed Society Premiere at the University of Colorado Boulder, 27th of July 2022 -
with Hassan Anderson, Oboe; the composer, Viola; & Hsiao-Ling Lin, Piano 
​Blue Sahara Crossing & The Lost Tribe
​for 
Oboe*, Viola** & Piano
*or Soprano Sax, Clarinet  in Bb or A, Oboe d'amore or Flute with B-foot;
**or Violin 
Crossing the Atlantic Ocean on the Queen Mary II in 2011.
Performance History

5th of February 2022 
World Premiere,
An die Musik, Baltimore, MD, USA (Recording behind paywall)

30th of June 2022 
British Premiere,
St Alfege Church, Greenwich, London (Recording with Soprano Sax)

​27th of July 2022
​IDRS Premiere
International Double Reed Society Conference, Boulder, CO, USA
Saturday 18 February to Monday 25 February 2023
NAVO Trio - Veronique Mathieu, Violin; Margaret Marco, Oboe; Ellen Sommer, Piano
Kansas Tour
Five live performances including a radio recital (see video above). Venues included Navo Arts Concerts; Grace Cathedral, Topeka; Ruel Joyce Concert Series, Overland Park; & Birger Sandzèn Art Gallery, Lindsborg

Sunday 19 February 2023
The Kansas Virtuosi, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA
Recent Performance
Saturday 8 April 2023
​with
Ryan Zwahlen, Oboe; Gary Ruppert, Piano;
​& Leslie Knight, Viola
​Wille Hall, COCC, Bend, Oregon, USA
Recent Performance
Sunday 30 April 2023
​with
Lisa Ryoo, Oboe; Casey Dierlam Tse, Piano
& Rebecca Vieker, Viola
​The University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
Blue Sahara Crossing & The Lost Tribe are the first two pieces in a modular set of three (working title:Transatlantic Triptych)  which is thematically linked - through both contrasts and similarities - to another three-part modular piece, The Door of No Return.  Whereas The Door concerns itself with crossing the Atlantic in slave ships, forced labour in the New World and returning across the Atlantic by air four hundred years later to reconnect with Ghana, Transatlantic Triptych deals with the opposite:  the creativity experienced by the composer when crossing the Atlantic on a luxury cruise ship, in 2011.  In Blue Sahara Crossing, the Atlantic Ocean is likened to the Sahara Desert, which is similar to it in area. The Lost Tribe is a lament for the Lenni Lenape, the original inhabitants of Manhattan.  The final piece in the set is due to be composed in Spring 2023. 

Transatlantic Triptych is a gesamtkunstwerk, being based upon prose, poems and photographs written - and taken - whilst on the Queen Mary II.   These items are included in the foreword to the scores, and a sample of them can be heard in the introductory video above. 
Multi-instrumental Scores & Parts in C & Bb

Please note that the C score, below, contains an Oboe Leading Score, in addition to the normal Piano score & Parts. In the Oboe Leading Score, the Oboe part is in large font and the Viola & Piano parts in small font.  This enables the Oboist to lead the rehearsal and read the score at the same time. 
To purchase a score & parts, please send a message via the Contact Page.
Based in London, England, international prizewinning musician Althea Talbot-Howard is a classical composer who began her professional career in 1992 as a soloist and orchestral guest principal. In 2005, Gramophone Magazine called her “a superb oboist”.  A graduate of Girton College, Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music; she won Third Prize in the Paris-Ville d'Avray International Oboe Competition in 2007; and was one of twelve equal prizewinners in the Ora Singers Christmas Gift Composition Competition in 2019. 
​​
Of Afro-British ancestry, she is a 12th-generation direct descendant of King Charles II, who formalized Britain’s involvement in the Atlantic slave trade; and therefore a 14th-generation descendant of King James I & VI, who commissioned the Authorized Version of the Bible.  Both anti-slavery and Christian themes feature strongly in her compositional output.