Double Bassist Marguerite Cox on the Latest Episode of WHYY's "On Stage at Curtis"
Season 17 of WHYY’s acclaimed On Stage at Curtis series continues with a portrait of double bassist Marguerite Cox. The Robert Montgomery Scott Fellow from Hudson, Ohio, entered Curtis in 2020 and studies double bass with Harold Hall Robinson and Edgar Meyer.
In this episode, Ms. Cox discusses her early musical memories of falling asleep to Charlotte Church’s album Voice of an Angel, listening to her father play Bruce Springsteen albums, and growing up in a household with parents who played piano and appreciated a wide variety of musical genres but weren’t professional musicians. These poignant moments from childhood would ultimately serve as a foundation for her pursuit of a career in music.
Ms. Cox recounts a pivotal moment in her development as a musician. In 2020, she was paired online with Angela Elizabeth Slater, a composing fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, who wrote a piece for her, A Door to Yesterday. This collaboration eventually expanded and led to performing a recital of works by living female composers for solo bass as part of Ms. Slater’s ongoing project, the Illuminate Women’s Music Project. Four of the five pieces were written during the onset of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter moment, reflecting the turmoil of racial unrest and isolation of the quarantine.
As a double bassist, Ms. Cox hopes to impact the world around her positively and sees classical music as no different than any other art form. She believes that making music is a way for people to express themselves and communicate, shake away the mundane daily routines of life, and inspire a sense of awe.
Featured performances include Slater’s A Door to Yesterday, Mason Bynes’s The (WRECK)oning, Ania Vu’s Sept Vignettes, Darian Donovan Thomas’s Disintegrating Foundation Under a Catastrophe of Air, and Sonia Ray’s Ondas.
Click HERE to watch the On Stage at Curtis episode, or click the video below.
