Two former Red Deer College instructors are spreading their musical talents across central Alberta — in new orchestras and with new compositions — since their program was cut in 2018.
James Bicigo admits he and his wife Karen Gustafson have made an “interesting” career transition in recent years.
The two music instructors had lived in Red Deer for just 24-months, having moved here from Alaska to work at the college (now polytechnic), when their whole department was shut down due to declining enrolment.
Bicigo, a Michigan-born trombone player, maintains this decision is “a great loss for the community.”
But he and Gustafson have continued performing and teaching in this region ever since. “Leaving the area was the last thing we wanted to do,” recalled Bicigo. “We were just starting to settle in and had made some good friends here.”
The couple now performs with French horn player Louise McMurray in the Central Alberta Chamber Players. The trio often plays at First Thursdays concerts at the downtown library and will be featured in the September concert there.
Bicigo and Gustafson are also contract instructors with Burman University in Lacombe, where they will be starting a new orchestra this fall, made up of adult students and community musicians.
And Bicigo teaches band at Ecole La Prairie school in Red Deer, where he’s navigated the pandemic by bumping up music appreciation during periods of online learning.
Gustafson, a Saskatoon native, will be heading to Texas in May, where she’s a speaker at the Dallas International Women’s Brass Conference. She plans to perform there, and to talk about being a breast cancer survivor and how this has impacted her career.
All the while, Bicigo continues to compose music. An original composition inspired by his love of murder mysteries is his latest project: The tuba concerto, Murder, My Suite will premiere this month by the Rocky Mountain Symphony Orchestra.
With a foreboding first movement, a menacing second movement, and triumphal finish, fans of Agatha Christie, Louise Penny or Gillian Flynn should be able to follow the musical trajectory to the final solution. “As you listen to the music, all evidence will come together,” promised Bicigo.
His past compositions include The Bremen Town Musicians, a children’s piece based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale. It’s been performed globally, including in Japan and China.
Murder, My Suite, is not as comical — although it features the tuba, often used to underscore funny moments in film soundtracks. This new work will highlight lyrical sounds made by tuba, said Bicigo. “It’s not so much a serious work as a work that exploits the beautiful sounds that you can get, from the very low to the rather high.”
Murder, My Suite, featuring tuba player Jean-Francois Cotnoir, will be performed on March 18 at the Polaris Centre in Balzac and March 19 at the Red Deer Lake United Church in Spruce Meadows. Bicigo will conduct the Balzac-based orchestra for the performances.
For more information, please visit rockymountainsymphony.ca.
lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com
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