For Claire & Philip River Town Duo

• Caroline Shaw (b. 1982):
• 1 Shaw: For Claire & Philip 03:56
• Whitney Ashe (b. 1971):
• 2 Ashe: The Circuitous Six 05:04
• Derick Evans (b. 1991):
• 3 Evans: On Lotusland 05:55
• Hannah Lash (b. 1981): Leaves, Space:
• 4 Lash: Leaves, Space: I. Leaves 06:01
• 5 Lash: Leaves, Space: II. Space 06:49
• Evan Premo (b. 1985): Two Meditations on Poems of Mary Oliver:
• 6 Premo: Two Meditations on Poems of Mary Oliver: I. Early Morning, New Hampshire 05:24
• 7 Premo: Two Meditations on Poems of Mary Oliver: II. Linen of Words 04:39
• Stephen Andrew Taylor (b. 1965): Oxygen:
• 8 Taylor: Oxygen: I. Phlogiston 03:05
• 9 Taylor: Oxygen: II. Betaglobin 02:22
• 10 Taylor: Oxygen: III. Pulse 03:05
• 11 Taylor: Oxygen: IV. Hemoglobin Alpha 02:30
• 12 Taylor: Oxygen: V. Calx 03:47
• Total Runtime 52:37

Info for For Claire & Philip

River Town Duo’s debut album, For Claire & Philip, features newly commissioned works written by six compelling 21st century American composers. Performed by double bassist Philip Alejo and harpist Claire Happel Ashe, this captivating recording shares the beguiling sounds of a unique chamber music pairing. For Claire and Philip is the culmination of River Town Duo’s collaborations with composers Caroline Shaw, Whitney Ashe, Derick Evans, Hannah Lash, Evan Premo, and Stephen Andrew Taylor.

The album opens with the recording’s catalyst: its eponymous work For Claire & Philip by Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw. “Claire and I were most fortunate to share friendship with Caroline Shaw during our graduate studies at the Yale School of Music,” explains Alejo. “We knew we had to ask Caroline for a piece. Of course, this resulted in a musical gem and inspired us to commission a handful of other works by young composers.”

Since its formation in 2012, River Town Duo has presented dozens of concerts at venues including the University of Arizona, University of Illinois, Avaloch Farm Music Institute, Mackinac Island Music Festival, University of Notre Dame, and the University of Wisconsin, among others. River Town Duo has also performed as invited artists at the International Society of Bassists Convention and the American Harp Society Summer Institute.

River Town Duo

Philip Alejo
is the Associate Professor of Music, Double Bass at the University of Arizona and Artist Faculty at the Bay View Music Festival. Previously he served as Associate Principal Bass of the Quad City Symphony and Visiting Professor of Bass at the University of Michigan. A former member of the Chicago Civic Orchestra, Philip has additionally performed with the Tucson Symphony, Arizona Opera, Ensemble Dal Niente, Flint Symphony, and Ann Arbor Symphony. As a chamber musician, Philip collaborates regularly with harpist Claire Happel Ashe in River Town Duo, which has premiered many newly commissioned works by living composers, including Caroline Shaw, Stephen Andrew Taylor, and Hannah Lash. His numerous music festivals and residencies include Spoleto Festival USA, Lucerne Festival, Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival, Mackinac Island Music Festival, Oaxaca Instrumenta, Aldeburgh Festival, Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival, Pacific Music Festival, and Aspen Music Festival. Philip teaches at the Arizona ASTA Bass Jams and the Richard Davis Bass Conference at the University of Wisconsin. He was recently named Guest Professor at the Wuhan Conservatory of Music and MusAid Teaching Artist at El Sistema, El Salvador. Philip holds degrees from Oberlin College (BA, BM), Yale University (MM), and the University of Michigan (DMA), where his principal teachers included Diana Gannett, Donald Palma, Peter Dominguez, and Thomas Sperl.

Claire Happel Ashe
is a versatile performer known for integrating diverse aspects of movement and music. As a harpist, she has appeared with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional of the Dominican Republic, and the Newberry Consort among many other ensembles. She regularly collaborates in chamber music performances with bassist Philip Alejo (River Town Duo), oboist Karisa Werdon (Immer Neu), and guitarist James Moore and mandolin player Jeremy Harting (Noble Fowl Trio). An advocate of new music, she has performed with contemporary ensembles such as the Chicago Composers Orchestra, International Ensemble Modern Academy, and the Pulitzer Series of St. Louis, and commissioned new works with grants from the Urbana Public Arts Program, City of Chicago Cultural Affairs, American Harp Society, and the Illinois Arts Council. In the summers, she has performed at the Midwest Harp Festival, American Harp Society Conferences and Institutes in Chicago, Logan (UT), and Tacoma (WA), and presented at the World Harp Congress in Dublin and Alexander Technique Congress in Chicago. In addition to performances on the modern pedal harp, Claire has performed on the Baroque triple harp since 2016 mentored by artists such as Cheryl Ann Fulton, Charlotte Mattax Moersch, and Christa Patton at the Madison Early Music Festival and Queens College Early Opera Workshop. She holds degrees in music performance from Yale University and the University of Illinois, where she also received a BFA in Dance, and was a 2007-08 Fulbright Scholar in Prague. She has served on the faculty of the University of Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s College, Illinois Summer Youth Music, and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, and as a teaching assistant at Yale University, the University of Illinois, and the Music in the Mountains Festival. She currently teaches harp, Alexander Technique, and movement at the Music Institute of Chicago, Valparaiso University, Olivet Nazarene University, and the James Hart Harp Program in the Homewood Public Schools.

Booklet for For Claire & Philip