Double Play flute and tuba has been active as a performing/touring ensemble since 1989. Although based in Phoenix, Arizona; this husband and wife team travels the country extensively each year, entertaining and educating audiences of all ages in a variety of venues from concert halls to classrooms. Performances include the music of “Bach to Broadway,“ accompanied by a variety of humorous and historical anecdotes. As part of their mission to inform as well as to entertain, demonstrations on a Baroque flute and “hose-horn” are integral to each “family-friendly” program. Amy Ridings, flutist, and Patrick Sciannella, tubaist, create their own unique arrangements of many classical standards as well as presenting the occasional, actual flute and tuba composition!
Amy
Ridings, flutist, is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory and a
former member of Quintessence Chamber
Ensemble. Formerly principal flutist of Michigan's Macomb
Symphony; she has appeared as soloist with the New American Chamber
Orchestra and the Bach Aria Group.
Patrick Sciannella, tubaist, holds both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Eastman School of Music and is a former member of the Genesee and Southwest Brass Quintets. He has performed with the Phoenix and Chautauqua Symphony Orchestras.
Although beginning as a part-time chamber ensemble in 1990; Double Play now averages 150-200 performances/programs annually. While “services” in Double Play’s early years often meant work as background entertainers; the duo has evolved into a full-time performing company. As of 2002, a rigorous touring schedule shows an annual travel log of 30,000 miles; appearances in forty-three states, the District of Columbia and Mexico. Current program offerings include: “Musical Mural” and “European Cruise“ for inter-generational audiences….. to “Musical Mysteries” and “Great Stories in Music” for libraries and schools.
Highlights of Double Play’s performance history include
appearances at Arizona State University, Cal State/Northridge,
Jamestown College (N. Dakota), the Charles Ives Center (Connecticut), a
bi-cultural exchange with Sonora, Mexico and at the University of South
Dakota (Vermillion). Double Play has performed as concerto
soloists with community bands at Central Arizona College, in Riverton
(Wyoming) and with the Sun City Concert Band and Sierra Vista Symphony
(Arizona). Their discography includes four
recordings: Old, New, Borrowed for Two; Summer 2001;
Impossible Dream; and Tunes for Two.