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| Wendell Dobbs |
Marshall University flute professor
Wendell Dobbs explores a wide range of flute music—from early American music to contemporary classical compositions to Irish folk music. He also leads the
John Marshall Fife and Drum Corps at Marshall University and teaches at the
Timber Flute Festival, which takes place in June in Elkins, West Virginia.
Dobbs will be playing a recital this Tuesday, 8pm at
Smith Recital Hall at Marshall University.
Earlier this summer, I managed to catch up with this busy flutist (flautist?) for an interview; he stopped by the studio in the middle of a drive between Elkins and Huntington.
First, he let us in on what he’ll be playing on Tuesday:
Listen to Wendell Dobbs describe his upcoming recital
He’ll be performing on the 18th-century flute, which he explains is very different from the flutes we often see today.
Listen to Wendell Dobbs talk about historical flutes.
It was especially neat to hear about the variety of music he plays and how he approaches each style.
Listen to Wendell Dobbs describe his musical explorations.
One of Dobbs’ recent albums is
Rallying Round Our Liberty: Music from the era of Chief Justice John Marshall. It includes the tune “
Hail Columbia," which was once considered to be the unofficial anthem of the United States, and a set of variations on “Hail Columbia” by Rafael Dressler. Here's
a sample of the music and you can
listen to Wendell Dobbs talk about the history of "Hail Columbia."
So, if you're near Marshall University on Tuesday night, you can check out Professor Dobbs' recital. You can also catch selections from his recordings as part of the
classical music programming on West Virginia Public Radio.