Who: Stefanie Janin-Brohamer is a Central Oregon Community College instructor, flutist and member of the Central Oregon Symphony. This weekend, she heads to the 2018 Da Capo Flute Symposium, which begins Sunday in Paris, France. There, she’ll premiere a portion of a new work for flute and piano, “Oiseau de la Cathédrale,” by Bend composer and fellow Symphony member Chris Thomas (cello). The Greater Portland Flute Society commissioned the piece, along with support from the local community to fund the commission. If you would like to donate to the effort, a check can be made payable to the COCC Foundation and sent to 2600 NW College Way, Bend, OR 97703. Be sure to write “Flute Commission” in the memo line.

Q: How did you and Chris start working on this?

A: Last summer, we met when I got hired at COCC … we were going to teach two different sets of the same class. So we met to talk about the curriculum, and after that we just started talking about artistic vision, musical vision, projects, potential ideas and the conversation got very, very animated. I was super curious about his — he splits his time between here and L.A., does a lot of composing … and concert things as well. Just in talking about that and talking about common interests, we knew we were going to do some sort of project at some point, like, it was inevitable.

Q: Did you have a place in mind where this was going to premiere?

A: Yeah, I kind of tied it in with the symposium where I’m going to be, because I knew that they would give us the space to do it. … When I applied for this flute symposium, he’d been sharing with me his desire to write a piece in the style of French composer (Francis) Poulenc. I said well, “If I get into this thing, let’s try to get a commission and let’s go and premiere it there.” We kind of chuckled about it, and then we looked at each other, and I said, “If I get into that thing, we’re going to make it happen.”

Q: Have you been practicing it a lot?

A: Yeah. The piece is right now about half-written. We’re going to do that premiere with the half that’s completed, and then we’ll do the full premiere here. I’ve been practicing it a lot. It’s starting to come together, to jell like any other piece would, sort of internally, if that makes sense.

Q: What does the title, “Oiseau de la Cathédrale,” mean?

A: “The Bird of the Cathedral,” and it was inspired (when Thomas) was actually in a cathedral in Toulouse, and there was this tiny little bird up in this giant space. He was just thinking about the tininess of this little bird in this vast space. So the first movement is very slow and mysterious, I think a little more about the atmosphere of the cathedral, and then the second one is about the bird taking flight over the city and if the bird could process different facets of life. It’s a little bit more philosophical.

— David Jasper, The Bulletin