WELCOME to the landing page for
THE DOOR OF NO RETURN!
Kindly scroll down, past instrumentation, reviews & premiere information, to find introductory videos for a range of instruments:
OBOE, SOPRANO SAX, CLARINET & BASSOON, with PIANO
TOP TIP!
The narrative film tells the story of the piece through footage & images, using an OBOE & PIANO soundtrack.
SOPRANO SAX & BASSOON performance videos are immediately underneath, with
SCORES below them.
THE DOOR OF NO RETURN!
Kindly scroll down, past instrumentation, reviews & premiere information, to find introductory videos for a range of instruments:
OBOE, SOPRANO SAX, CLARINET & BASSOON, with PIANO
TOP TIP!
The narrative film tells the story of the piece through footage & images, using an OBOE & PIANO soundtrack.
SOPRANO SAX & BASSOON performance videos are immediately underneath, with
SCORES below them.
Australian Music Examinations Board: Professional Oboe Diploma Syllabus, from 2022
AMusA ~ List D
AMusA ~ List D
A New Sonata for
Solo Woodwind & Piano...
Commemorating the transatlantic slave trade; forced labour in the New World;
& the late US Congress Representative John Lewis (1940-2020)
Celebrating the American Civil Rights movement, the Return to Africa movement & Ghana's Year of Return (2019)
ELIGIBLE INSTRUMENTS for FULL PIECE
Oboe, Clarinet in Bb, Soprano Saxophone, Bassoon
ELIGIBLE INSTRUMENTS FOR FIRST PART ONLY - known as DAHOMEY PASSACAGLIA
Flute, Horn, Treble (Alto) Recorder
A SILENT FILM IS AVAILABLE FOR MULTIMEDIA PERFORMANCES. PLEASE SEE BELOW* FOR LIMITATIONS OF USE.
Solo Woodwind & Piano...
Commemorating the transatlantic slave trade; forced labour in the New World;
& the late US Congress Representative John Lewis (1940-2020)
Celebrating the American Civil Rights movement, the Return to Africa movement & Ghana's Year of Return (2019)
ELIGIBLE INSTRUMENTS for FULL PIECE
Oboe, Clarinet in Bb, Soprano Saxophone, Bassoon
ELIGIBLE INSTRUMENTS FOR FIRST PART ONLY - known as DAHOMEY PASSACAGLIA
Flute, Horn, Treble (Alto) Recorder
A SILENT FILM IS AVAILABLE FOR MULTIMEDIA PERFORMANCES. PLEASE SEE BELOW* FOR LIMITATIONS OF USE.
|
"C'est beau et émouvant à la fois". RM, France
"Beautiful composition…" CM (YouTube Comments) "Wow. That is beautiful. The way the two instrumental parts respond to, and feed off each other, is lovely." SN, (YouTube Comments) |
"Congratulations! I look forward to hearing more from The Door of No Return." SC, Essex
"This is poignant and powerful... I thoroughly enjoyed listening… and also reading more about the inspiration and origins of the concept. Looking forward to watching the upcoming video releases." SL, Herts. |
Performance History
Since its video world premiere in March 2021, over 45 known live performances of The Door of No Return have been given, to date, many preserved on video or audio. Most have taken place in the USA; the remainder in the UK, Spain, Canada & New Zealand.
So far, the solo part has been played on the Oboe, Clarinet, Soprano Sax & Bassoon.
Dahomey Passacaglia has been performed several times on the French Horn.
I wholeheartedly thank every musician who has engaged with this piece.
Premieres
Since its video world premiere in March 2021, over 45 known live performances of The Door of No Return have been given, to date, many preserved on video or audio. Most have taken place in the USA; the remainder in the UK, Spain, Canada & New Zealand.
So far, the solo part has been played on the Oboe, Clarinet, Soprano Sax & Bassoon.
Dahomey Passacaglia has been performed several times on the French Horn.
I wholeheartedly thank every musician who has engaged with this piece.
Premieres
Video World/Oboe Premieres, March to May 2021: Katherine Needleman, oboe & piano. Released in stages via a series of narrative & performance films, which included In Memoriam John Lewis, a tribute by Jeff Bieber (March 25th 2021).
Live World/Clarinet Premiere, 04 September 2021: Na’Zir McFadden, clarinet & Katherine Needleman, piano ~ livestreamed from An die Musik, Baltimore, MD, USA
British/Saxophone Premiere, 30 June 2022: Ash Brand, soprano saxophone & Daniel King Smith, piano ~ St. Alfege’s Church, Greenwich, London, UK. Trinity Laban Conservatoire - Black Culture 365 Composer Feature Concert
Spanish Premiere (Dahomey & The Door of Return), 15 July 2022: Sarah Roper, oboe & Ignacio Torner, piano ~ Nights in the Gardens of the Real Alcázar, Seville, Spain
IDRS Premiere, 26 July 2022: Kathleen Carter Bell, oboe & Stephen Innis, piano ~ International Double Reed Society Conference, The University of Colorado Boulder, USA
Bassoon Premiere, 13 February 2023: Conor Bell, bassoon & Adam Clark, piano ~ Faculty Recital, Hinton Hall, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, USA
Canadian/Horn Premiere (Dahomey Passacaglia), 29 July 2023: Margaret McGillivray, horn & collaborative pianist ~ 55th International Horn Symposium, L'Université de Montréal, Canada
New Zealand Premiere, 18 May 2025: Bede Hanley, oboe & Gracie Francis, piano ~ Symphonia Hall, 59 Wellington Street, Freemans Bay, Auckland, NZ
Live World/Clarinet Premiere, 04 September 2021: Na’Zir McFadden, clarinet & Katherine Needleman, piano ~ livestreamed from An die Musik, Baltimore, MD, USA
British/Saxophone Premiere, 30 June 2022: Ash Brand, soprano saxophone & Daniel King Smith, piano ~ St. Alfege’s Church, Greenwich, London, UK. Trinity Laban Conservatoire - Black Culture 365 Composer Feature Concert
Spanish Premiere (Dahomey & The Door of Return), 15 July 2022: Sarah Roper, oboe & Ignacio Torner, piano ~ Nights in the Gardens of the Real Alcázar, Seville, Spain
IDRS Premiere, 26 July 2022: Kathleen Carter Bell, oboe & Stephen Innis, piano ~ International Double Reed Society Conference, The University of Colorado Boulder, USA
Bassoon Premiere, 13 February 2023: Conor Bell, bassoon & Adam Clark, piano ~ Faculty Recital, Hinton Hall, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, USA
Canadian/Horn Premiere (Dahomey Passacaglia), 29 July 2023: Margaret McGillivray, horn & collaborative pianist ~ 55th International Horn Symposium, L'Université de Montréal, Canada
New Zealand Premiere, 18 May 2025: Bede Hanley, oboe & Gracie Francis, piano ~ Symphonia Hall, 59 Wellington Street, Freemans Bay, Auckland, NZ
Video Introduction
Oboe & Piano Narrative Film
Oboe & Piano Narrative Film
|
|
|
The NARRATIVE FILM tells the story of the piece, through historical and contemporary footage and images. Its oboe & piano soundtrack is beautifully performed by Kathleen Carter Bell & Sarah Rushing.
Further information and more photographs about The Door are available in the blue section beneath the scores, below.
SCROLL DOWN TO VIEW SCORES, OR CLICK:
Further information and more photographs about The Door are available in the blue section beneath the scores, below.
SCROLL DOWN TO VIEW SCORES, OR CLICK:
Bb Woodwind & Piano
|
|
|
Lily Skinner & Leo Nicholson excel in their interpretation, performed in Greenwich, London on 29 June 2023.
The new SILENT FILM, for use in certain live performances, was premiered by Eugene Ryoo & Casey Dierlam Tse at the North American Saxophone Alliance conference, Oklahoma State University on 15 March 2024. Photo credit: Kenneth Tse.
The new SILENT FILM, for use in certain live performances, was premiered by Eugene Ryoo & Casey Dierlam Tse at the North American Saxophone Alliance conference, Oklahoma State University on 15 March 2024. Photo credit: Kenneth Tse.
Bassoon & Piano
Conor Bell, Bassoon & Adam Clark, Piano premiere the bassoon score at Middle Tennessee State University, USA: 13 February 2023
SCORES
|
The Door of No Return
Dahomey Betty's Hope The Door of Return FOR: Solo Woodwind & Piano LEVEL: Advanced DURATION: 13'00" |
Scores Available
PDF Second Edition Oboe or Bassoon Bb Woodwind PRINTED Second Edition Oboe Bb Woodwind |
CLICK ON THE IMAGES,
to purchase from
June Emerson Wind Music
|
PDF Editions
|
PRINTED Editions
|
IMPORTANT: KEYS
|
All scores utilise challenging keys, to help express emotional complexity.
The Oboe score utilises multi-flats/sharps throughout, as follows: Dahomey: modal Eb minor (effectually five flats) Betty's Hope: modal Ab minor ('six') The Door of Return: Gb & B majors |
Bb score: a transcription of the oboe keys (modal F & Bb minors, Ab/Db majors).
The Bassoon score is identical to the oboe's (one octave beneath) until The Door of Return, where it is one tenth lower. These keys are parallel to those of Dahomey & Betty's Hope: Eb & Ab majors, instead of Gb & B majors |
|
MUSICIANS!!!
Click on images, to check out: The New Chevalier Sonata A transcribed sonata by ex-slave composer Chevalier de Saint-Georges! Troparion A popular original piece based upon ancient Byzantine church chant! |
|
More About the Piece
Dahomey was inspired by the magnificent monument on the coast of Benin (formerly French Dahomey): The Door of No Return (Ouidah). It charts the abduction of slaves by rival nations from elsewhere in the African continent; the march to the Slave Coast; the sometimes-lethal journey across the Atlantic; and forced labour on the island of Antigua.
Betty’s Hope plantation in Antigua is now an open-air museum. The estate produced sugar from 1650 until the mid-20th century. Its profits helped to fund the monumental Library at All Souls’ College, Oxford; and fed into the wealth of the City of London. The music is a requiem for all those who passed away as slave labourers: and for Representative John Lewis, whose death in 2020 took him through his own personal Door of No Return.
The Door of Return explores the 21st-century return to Africa by members of the African diaspora, many of whom have recently settled in Ghana. It is joyful music, but behind that joy lies interest in how this step will work out for them, on a long-term basis. The end of the piece is more poignant in tone, commemorating John Lewis’s visit - with the Congressional Black Caucus - to the Doors at Cape Coast and Elmina Castles, Ghana, in 2019.
Image licence: Shutterstock - Members of the Lenni Lenape tribe, Manhattan, USA
|
MUSICIANS!!!
ADD A STRING PLAYER & PERFORM THE POPULAR TRIO TRANS-ATLANTIC TRIPTYCH FIND OUT MORE about the thematic connections... |
Image credit: AT-H - Queen Mary II, the North Atlantic, July 2011
|
Artistic Collaborators
Julio Obscura, Photographer
Jeff Bieber, Filmmaker
Julio Obscura, Photographer
Jeff Bieber, Filmmaker
|
American photographer Julio Obscura was the Official Photographer for Speaker Pelosi in the US Congress from 2016-2020: hence he documented the Congressional Black Caucus' visit to Ghana in 2019 for the Year of Return. I am extremely grateful for his permission to use some of these photographs in this project; and you can see more of them on his website.
As a Fulbright Scholar, Julio studied for a master's degree in Digital Design at the Royal College of Art in London, during the pandemic. He can be followed on Instagram. Executive producer Jeff Bieber has won numerous awards including two national EMMYS, two George Foster Peabody awards, and a duPont-Columbia Award. Vice President of Content Development & Production for WETA Public Broadcasting Service in the USA, Jeff is responsible for content development, marketing, & project management of national Primetime programs and public media initiatives airing on PBS. Award-winning documentary series he has executive-produced include Avoiding Armageddon (2003) - an 8-hour series about weapons of mass destruction; America at a Crossroads (2007) - a 12-hour series on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; and multiple series about immigrant experience and transformation of the American identity. These programs include The Jewish Americans (2008); Latino Americans (2013); The Italian Americans (2015); The Pilgrims (2015), & The Asian Americans in May 2020. Bieber is also executive producer for Washington Week, the weekly primetime news and analysis program on PBS.
|
Photographer Julio Obscura & companion in the dungeon, Elmina Castle, Ghana 2019
|
Image Credits
Photo credits: Wikimedia Commons; Shutterstock; Julio Obscura; AT-H
Top: The Door of No Return, Ouidah, Benin (Dahomey) Photo credit: JB Dodane Licence: Wikimedia Creative Commons
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ https://www.jbdodane.com/
Photo credits: Wikimedia Commons; Shutterstock; Julio Obscura; AT-H
Top: The Door of No Return, Ouidah, Benin (Dahomey) Photo credit: JB Dodane Licence: Wikimedia Creative Commons
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ https://www.jbdodane.com/
Additional Performances
|
|
|
|
|
Dahomey features as the soundtrack in this tribute film to the late Congressman John Lewis, by American producer Jeff Bieber. In the second video, young African-American oboist Mekhi Gladden performs. Ashley Brand gives the British premiere, on 30 June 2022, with pianist Daniel King Smith. Commencing at 41:40, Dr Anna Bradford's lecture recital concludes by screening the SILENT FILM.
More Oboe & Piano
|
|
Up-and-coming young American oboist Zachary Allen excels in his performance of The Door of Return, the final part of The Door of No Return. On Track 3, after a brief introduction, Zachary and Peter Dugan perform the piece. Photo credit: From the Top
Keith Sorrels and Laura Medisky impress in their recitals.
Keith Sorrels and Laura Medisky impress in their recitals.
|
|
|
* THE SILENT FILM
THE SILENT FILM IS AVAILABLE FOR SCREENING DURING LIVE PERFORMANCES, MASTERCLASSES & CONFERENCES IN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS, TO CREATE A MULTIMEDIA EXPERIENCE.
HOWEVER, FOR LICENSING-COMPLIANCE REASONS, THIS OPPORTUNITY IS PRIMARILY LIMITED TO DOCTORAL STUDENTS, PROFESSORIAL STAFF & PROFESSIONAL MUSICIANS PERFORMING IN CONFERENCES. MASTERS STUDENTS WILL BE CONSIDERED ON A CASE-BY-CASE BASIS.
THE SILENT FILM IS NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FOR USE IN GENERAL PUBLIC PERFORMANCES IN CONCERT HALLS, CHURCHES, ETC.
PLEASE ENQUIRE VIA THE CONTACT PAGE, IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO DISCUSS THIS OPTION. MANY THANKS.
HOWEVER, FOR LICENSING-COMPLIANCE REASONS, THIS OPPORTUNITY IS PRIMARILY LIMITED TO DOCTORAL STUDENTS, PROFESSORIAL STAFF & PROFESSIONAL MUSICIANS PERFORMING IN CONFERENCES. MASTERS STUDENTS WILL BE CONSIDERED ON A CASE-BY-CASE BASIS.
THE SILENT FILM IS NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FOR USE IN GENERAL PUBLIC PERFORMANCES IN CONCERT HALLS, CHURCHES, ETC.
PLEASE ENQUIRE VIA THE CONTACT PAGE, IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO DISCUSS THIS OPTION. MANY THANKS.
FALL SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN: CONTACT DETAILS
Lily (sax) & Leo (piano) are both based in London, UK, and available for suitable work. Any enquiries should be made as follows:
Lily: Opus Sax Quartet
Leo: Website
Lily (sax) & Leo (piano) are both based in London, UK, and available for suitable work. Any enquiries should be made as follows:
Lily: Opus Sax Quartet
Leo: Website
