Oboe Sonata No. 1
Karl Meyer (b. 1986) began his violin studies at age 5, and was concertmaster and soloist with the Toledo Youth Orchestra and soloist with the Perrysburg Symphony. He played in the Princeton University Orchestra, and studied music theory and composition with Paul Lansky. When moving to DC after graduate school, he resumed playing violin, joining the Capital City Symphony in 2010. Since dabbling in music composition in his youth, Karl’s musical tastes have evolved from Tchaikovsky to Mahler to the second Viennese school.
Karl works as an aerospace engineer on aviation safety research, and can be found on the pickleball court when not working or playing violin. He lives with his wife Emily, rambunctious infant Niko, and heads of household Perch and Xenia (cats) in Capitol Hill East.
About the piece:
The Oboe Sonata explores the unique characteristics of both instruments, leveraging the percussive piano for rhythmic direction and the oboe for its focused sound – heightening tension and the effect of atonality throughout the Sonata. Similar to several of Karl’s other compositions, the Sonata features polytonality, unexpected chord progressions, and layered rhythmic counterpoint.
Meet the Composers
Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor
Andrew Acquaviva entered the musical world at the age of 9, picking up the viola, and eventually piano, and has continued playing through to today. He is active in the musical community, including as a player in the Capital City Symphony in addition to composing. Before this, he was a member of Queer Urban Orchestra (QUO) in New York City.
Andrew currently works as a consulting acoustician in Washington, D.C., aiding the architectural and HVAC design for optimal acoustic comfort within all manner of occupied spaces, such as offices, residences, performance spaces, and places of worship.
About the piece:
The first movement of this Piano Quartet debuted at the CCS Composer's Concert 3 years ago. Today's debut of the 2nd movement continues the exploration of this classic combination of instruments. This piece adapts themes established by composer Adiescar Chase for the Netflix Series "Heartstopper" to evoke feelings of heartfelt love and companionship. Using this as a seed for development, this piece speaks to the many aspects of love, the negotiation of two becoming a unit, and the rewards that flourish from that journey. The nickname "Gezellig" comes from the Dutch language to describe a warmth, coziness, and fulfillment that colors the particular flavor of love depicted in this piece, a kind of love that is not mawkish and instead stable and soothing.
All That We’ve Done and All That’s to Come
Eric Hall
“After dabbling with other instruments, I started on bassoon at age 12. My musical education took me to Interlochen and Oberlin Conservatory before eventually earning a degree in bassoon performance from Michigan State University (1986).
After graduation, I relocated to Los Angeles and threw myself into the world of rock music. While that never brought fame or fortune, my day job kept offering more and better opportunities. In 1999, it took me to Washington, D.C., where an interest in classical music again took hold. I began performing with the Capital City Symphony (2006) and several other ensembles in the area. A few years after that, I started composing music for orchestral instruments. Since 2013, several of my compositions for have been performed in the DC metro area, Ohio, and Michigan.
After a decades long odyssey, I returned to Michigan where I have continued to elude fame and fortune while studying music composition at Michigan State University.”
About the piece:
We build wonders, help those in need and celebrate ingenuity. And at the same time, we make wars, deface our world and lie to save face. We are confusing and contradictory - a mixed bag - neither good nor bad, but a little of both. It’s difficult to celebrate, apologize, anticipate and mourn all at once, and yet that is what an honest assessment would expect from us. Despite all that we’ve done and all that’s to come, there won’t be a grand climatic resolution or even a season finale. There will only be a question mark, expressing the unresolvable nature of us.
Reminiscences of Childhood for String Quartet
Daniel Lu started piano lessons around kindergarten and has always been a part of the music world. He studied piano with Anna Golka and Robert Roux in Houston and Xak Bjerken at Cornell University. He picked up the violin as a secondary instrument in middle school and played in youth orchestras throughout high school.
Daniel worked for NASA until 2024 designing electronics for space telescopes and planetary radars. He got his start singing in choruses and musical theater in NASAs theater group. He has been singing with the Congressional Chorus since 2013. He picked the violin back up in 2016 and joined Capital City Symphony in the fall. Occasionally, he plays in the pit orchestra for theater shows or jazz piano for events. Currently, he is supporting radar research at the Naval Research Laboratory.
Daniel wrote a set of pieces for piano and violin and a piano concerto during the 2020 pandemic and premiered his flute concerto with the Capital City Symphony in March 2022. He is currently working on his second string quartet as well as a few vocal arrangements. A recent piece of his, “Prelude to a Long Spring”, for trumpet, violin, flute, and piano, was premiered at the Mid-Atlantic flute convention in February of 2025.
About the piece:
I wrote this string quartet in the summer of 2024 as an accessible piece for chamber get togethers as well as youth chamber ensembles. The three movement work is titled Reminiscences of Childhood as it evokes images of my trip to Taiwan in 1987.
The first movement is named Garden in memory of my late grandmother’s rooftop garden. I have vivid memories of walking around in that garden and relishing the bonsai trees as well as the rain showers.
The second movement is structured more freely and cycles through bursts of creativity with poetic imprints painted throughout the movement in various arrangements.
The third movement completes the quartet with a playful rondo that moves through the city and parks and ends irreverently with cheeky dissonances in the coda.
My extra-musical associations around my quartet as well as other works are rich and numerous but I believe that one of my roles as a composer is to bring forth the listener’s own personal story to the foreground in addition to expressing my own world in a performance.