the National Park Project

The National Parks are known as treasured lands throughout the United States. People travel near and far to live their best life, adventure, take in the scenery, camp, relax, and be with nature. Many artists, photographers, dancers, and musicians have taken inspiration from the beauty of the parks.

This project is an evolving commissioning project to create new music for the oboe and English horn, using inspiration from National Park sites.

why the project began…

The project began with a goal to create music written for oboe and harp for all 5 National Park sites in Minnesota. As National Park travelers, my daughter and I have a goal to visit all 431 National Park sites and we have been to 250 of them in the last 7 years. When commissioning composer Katherine Bergman to create a new work for Dúo León (oboe and harp) I thought that it would be gratifying to play a piece about a National Park site in Minnesota. This is where the idea began and it has been expanding since that initial thought!