"This concert was supposed to happen two years ago," says oboist Gabriel Renteria-Elyea, principal oboist of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra. Delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, his debut at the Chamber Music Festival of Saugatuck will take place this week, in a program called "Déjà vu," held at 7:30 pm on July 14 and 15 at the Saugatuck Woman's Club. He'll be joined by a group of string players headed by Grand Rapids Symphony section violinist Haijin Choi, a favorite of the festival.
In an interview with Cara Lieurance, Choi and Renteria-Elyea put the three pieces on the program in context: Hugo Wolf's Italian Serenade, the Oboe Quintet of 1922 by Arnold Bax, and Mozart's Serenade in C minor K. 406.