by Caiti Beth McKinney
Hi horn friends! This month I want to introduce you to a composer who not only writes incredible and engaging music for the horn, but whom I also feel very lucky to know personally from my time in graduate school—Kimberly Osberg (b. 1992). Originally from Wisconsin, Kimberly is currently based in Portland, Oregon. Osberg’s music is always witty and vibrant, and while frequently tongue-in-cheek, often contains powerful messages based on her unique perspective of looking at the natural world.
Kimberly is already what I would consider a prolific composer with over 75 published works, several of which feature the horn in prominent roles. Among my favorites is a lively trio for clarinet, bassoon, and horn entitled Freaks of Nature (2023). Osberg describes the piece as a “love letter to three endangered species,” the volcano snail (a fascinating little creature), the huntsman spider, and the giant golden-crowned flying fox. The first movement focuses on the snail and is infused with both the humor and the resilience of an animal whose shell is composed of iron and who inhabit hydrothermal vents. The second movement is more unsettling (or is that my arachnophobia?); the horn player alternates between a weaving chromatic figure and an offbeat metrical section while the clarinet performs a “spinning” solo. I particularly enjoy the third movement about a bat so large it is misidentified as a fox. All three performers take turns with a sixteenth-note triplet that elicits a sense of motion and momentum until the horn takes over with soaring lines evoking the flight of this megabat. Freaks of Nature provides an excellent balance of challenge and approachability and is also a guaranteed crowd pleaser.
Another of Osberg’s works with horn is the fiery work, scored for either brass quintet or brass ensemble, Almost Ready (2017, rev. 2021). Commissioned by the American Brass Quintet as part of their Aspen residency, the piece “unexpectedly accompanied the arrival of Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsberg at the intermission of a season concert at Aspen.” It’s a quick work, only a little over two minutes long, but it is an energetic piece which passes lines rapidly between all performers only to bring them together in a triumphant climax at the very end.
Kimberly has composed other pieces for horn, including another short work entitled 30. Optimistic, Mysterious for bass clarinet and horn that was part of her 2020 project Commissions from Quarantine, another brass quintet, near death (2023) that is scheduled to appear on Calypsus Brass Ensemble’s forthcoming album, and a duo for clarinet and horn she titled (UN)NATURAL (2023), based on strange and dramatic weather phenomenon. Osberg is currently accepting commissions; learn more by visiting her website.
