Seattle Opera’s production of Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde during the summer of 2010 used a rare instrument called the Holztrompete (Wooden Trumpet). Wagner specified this instrument to represent the natural pipe of a peasant that he wanted during Act III of this opera. There are not many Holztrompetes in the United States, but Seattle Opera was able to get one on loan from the Joe and Joella Utley Brass Instrument Collection at the National Music Museum, at the University of South Dakota, in Vermillion, South ...

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Elizabeth Harcombe grew up in Roseburg, Oregon where she began playing piano at the age of 5. She was the pianist at the church where her mother served as organist. Harcombe studied music at Biola University and later got a Master of Music Education degree with an emphasis in piano pedagogy from University of Oklahoma. Harcombe has served as the rehearsal pianist at the Oregon Bach Festival for Helmuth Rilling and for the Oregon Repertory Singers under Gil Seeley. She currently teaches piano at Lewis and Clark College and is the program and ...

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