Scenes from the Big Top - REED5 OB/CL/ASX/BCL/BSN

by Kincaid Rabb (b.1993)  - American composer

ABOUT THE MUSIC:

Scenes from the Big Top was inspired by the historic music of American circuses, from the waltzes of trapeze artists to the classic Fillmore screamers. Using the architecture of a theme and variations to tell the story of Scenes from the Big Top, you can hear the joy and laughter of watching the American circus weaving in and out of all the instruments of the reed quintet. 

Commissioned by the Paradise Winds (Phoenix, Arizona), Scenes from the Big Top won first prize in Music Composition for the 2014 Maricopa County Community College District Artists of Promise Awards. It was premiered by the Paradise Winds on February 8th, 2015 at Dayspring United Methodist Church in Tempe, Arizona. 

Scenes from the Big Top was included on Paradise Winds' first Album, Journey on a Comet's Tail, available on Soundset Recordings.

ABOUT THE COMPOSER:

Kincaid Rabb (b. 1993, they/them pronouns) is an award-winning writer and music-maker, working at the intersection of storytelling and new music. Kincaid is an artist-scholar whose research includes musical narratology, emotional catharsis, and the phenomenon of the theme park as inspiration. Using narration, worldbuilding, and a strong sense of fun and play, Kincaid creates musical experiences that immerse audiences into intimate spaces and that reward waders, swimmers, and divers alike. Kincaid produces works that trapeze artistic disciplines, curating performances that seamlessly integrate different sensory experiences and create lasting memories through relatable stories. 

Kincaid’s collaborations have included Paradise Winds, The _____ Experiment, the Driftwood Quintet, Kontra Duo, Keyed Kontraptions, Duo R2, the Brelby Theatre Company, and the faculty and students at the University of Arizona and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Kincaid is a founding member of Basket of Owls, an ensemble of musician-narrators dedicated to curating spaces for unheard stories, and flourish! new music ensemble, an ensemble committed to sparking joy in new music. Their principal teachers have included Douglas Harbin, Daniel Asia, Pamela Decker, Diego Vega, and Jennifer Bellor. 

Currently residing in Tucson, Arizona, Kincaid graduated with a Master of Music in Composition in 2021 from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where they held graduate assistantships in theory, composition, and musicology. They graduated from the University of Arizona with a Bachelor of Music in Composition in 2017. Kincaid is a member of the Millennium Composers Initiative, is affiliated with ASCAP, and is published with Trevco Music. Kincaid can usually be found at Scented Leaf in Tucson, Arizona, sipping on a matcha lemonade, watching the world go by and writing their next adventure into music.

For more information about Kincaid and their music, please visit www.kincaidrabb.com

For a recording, click https://youtu.be/x5qHgcvOHkI