Photo Courtesy: Baiying Zhang (WIYAMS artists and members of the organizing team following the CONFLUENCE concert. Pictured with the group are WIYAMS Co-Founder and Artistic Director Dr. Jinwei Zhang and Operations Director Yingjun Amy Chen.)
Cooper Headrick’s performances were part of an afternoon of solo and chamber music at Shenandoah Conservatory.
WINCHESTER, Va. The bass clarinet is often heard as part of a larger ensemble. At the Washington International Young Artists Music Series’ CONFLUENCE concert on Sept. 19, Cooper Headrick brought it to the foreground.
Headrick, a WIYAMS Young Artist, performed Eugène Bozza’s Ballade for Bass Clarinet and Piano and the Blues from George Gershwin’s An American in Paris, arranged by Michele Mangani. The pairing gave listeners two different views of the instrument: its lyrical reach in Bozza and its rhythmic character in Gershwin.
His performances were part of a broader program at Goodson Chapel – Recital Hall, presented by WIYAMS through the International Art Development and Promotion Association. The concert brought together WIYAMS Artists, WIYAMS Young Artists and guest musicians, including performers from Shenandoah Conservatory and the Royal College of Music in London. Piano, guitar, bass clarinet, saxophone and horn all had a place on the afternoon’s program.
Originally from Portland, Oregon, Headrick is pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Clarinet Performance at New York University, where he studies with Christa Van Alstine. His work spans classical and jazz music, a background reflected in his choice of pieces for CONFLUENCE. He won First Place in Low Clarinet at the 2024 OSAA State Solo Festival and received the 2024 Louis Armstrong Jazz Award. In 2025, he was a finalist in the NYU Woodwind Concerto Competition.
Headrick has also taught through Vibe of Portland. During a semester in Prague, he studied with Irvin Venyš and interned with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra. Those experiences have taken him from community music education to conservatory training and orchestral work.
Elsewhere on the program, pianists Allison Estabrook, Andrew Wood and Charles Roberts performed Chopin’s Ballade No. 2 in F Major, Albéniz’s Triana from Iberia, and Scriabin’s Fantasy in B Minor, respectively. The three works offered sharply different demands: Chopin’s sudden turns between calm and turbulence, Albéniz’s dance rhythms, and Scriabin’s expansive Romantic writing.
The piano also appeared in partnership with other instruments. Ido Shalom and guitarist Weijia Chen performed the Allegretto from Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata in an arrangement for piano and guitar. At a single keyboard, Yan Shun Joseph Wong and Sau In Tiana Wong played Mozart’s Andante and Five Variations in G Major, K. 501. Each pairing required its own kind of balance, whether between the guitar’s plucked sound and the piano or between two players sharing the same instrument.
Wind instruments added further variety. Saxophonist Wentao Luan performed Pierre Sancan’s Lamento et Rondo, while horn player Maria Alexander presented the first two movements of Jane Vignery’s Sonata for Horn and Piano. Together with Headrick’s bass clarinet selections, these performances gave the concert three distinct approaches to wind repertoire.
“Our goal was to give musicians from different schools and cities a place to perform together and share their work with a new audience,” said Yingjun Amy Chen, operations director of WIYAMS. “We’re grateful to Shenandoah Conservatory for helping us bring that opportunity to Winchester.”
The title CONFLUENCE suited both the Shenandoah Valley setting and the concert’s structure. Solo performances stood alongside duos. Familiar composers shared the program with works that placed less frequently featured instruments, including Headrick’s bass clarinet, at the center of attention.
