Current Projects

I just had the pleasure of attending Diane Grubbe's "Glissando flute" set on the West Oakland Sound Series over at Paul Dresher's. WOW! First of all, I was not expecting the pure tone of the glissando flute - what a cool instrument. The concert began with "Crossing," which had a tape part of cityscape sounds that playfully interacted with Diane, who strolled and played her flute around the space in sunglasses and flip flops. ("WAIT!" called out the voice on the crosswalk speaker, and Diane dutifully stopped and waited; later she told off some cars that honked at her as she "jaywalked" in the intersection, I imagined...) Next, Matt Ingalls' "Page Two" with processing evoked Paul Lansky's "6 Fantasies on a poem of Thomas Campion" ("Rose-cheeked Laura"). The sounds conjured up the 1970s and IBM computers, and Lansky's famous linear coding seemed to be right there again... then Monica Scott's "The 7 Directions" began with a table rolling out with what looked like a wedding cake strapped to it, but instead turned out to be a giant cardboard tube with the score taped around it, and four speakers surrounding it that triggered a pre-recorded flute that played in counterpoint to Diane's live reading, somehow altogether sounding remarkably like a bandoneon. Brent Miller's "Collage 392" was also a beautiful ode to this instrument- the sounds were so pure...Kyle Bruckmann's "Interstitium" could have been a twin to Ingalls' processed work, except that the two piece couldn't have been more different - while Ingalls' Lansky-esque IBM sounds favored the higher spectrums with shimmering filters, Bruckmann's used low frequencies that made me look over to the board, wondering if there was a hum...but actually it was the sounds themselves, somehow emanating from the speakers, in beautiful contrast to the flute. Mod synths, analog sounds all created a fantastic counterpoint... Wendy Reid's "Two Birds on Shattuck Avenue" was a sweet ode to her beloved Lulu, the African parrot who sings... the set ended with a group improvisation, including Frank Johnson on a nifty percussion set of hand drums and triangle. Cleverly, all the composer/performers improvised with Diane... Monica Scott ended the piece by somehow managing to bring back the single high pure tones of the flute with col legno harmonics that made us all sink back in our chairs, adrift.... THANK YOU DIANE and CREW! I don't get out much, and this was such a treat. Great work!

About Diane

Diane Grubbe is a regular performer in the San Francisco Bay Area in a variety of musical genres. She performs regularly with Pocket Opera and has also appeared with the Stockton Symphony, Symphony Silicon Valley, Lamplighters, Festival Opera, and many others. She is a founding member of Quinteto Latino, a wind quintet focusing on contemporary music from Latin America and Latino-Americans. With a special interest in contemporary music and new performance techniques on flute, piccolo, alto and bass flutes, Diane enjoys improvising as well as studying and performing new works. She is a member of the contemporary music ensemble sfSound, and has been a guest performer with Earplay, the Eco Ensemble, Santa Cruz New Music Works, and the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players.

Diane holds a Master of Music degree from the San Francisco Conservatory where she studied with Lloyd Gowen and Tim Day. Her Bachelor of Music degree is from San Francisco State University where her flute instructor was Paul Renzi. Other important instructors have been Barbara Chaffe and Jim Walker of the San Francisco Ballet and Opera Orchestras as well as famed flutist/composer/innovater Robert Dick. She has performed in masterclasses with Julius Baker, Heinz Holliger and Robert Stallman.