Charlie Bruggemann
(Reed College Student Spotlight)
Charlie Bruggemann is currently a student at Reed College where he studies mathematics and music. Charlie has been learning clarinet for six years and enjoys playing chamber music with his student quartet and with the Reed Orchestra. Charlie is passionate about music composition and in 2022 received Reed's Rothchild Summer Stipend to write and perform his original work Rhapsody on a 3-Sphere for clarinet and piano. In Spring 2024 Charlie lived in Budapest, Hungary studying mathematics and Hungarian folk music and culture. Charlie’s music is inspired by a fusion of classical and folk styles, and often experiments with new clarinet techniques to explore new sounds.
Charlie’s Locally Sourced Sounds composition
Willow
About Willow
Willow for solo clarinet evokes the ancient mysticism and wildness of the woods near Charlie’s home in Massachusetts. The title is also a dedication to an old goat named Willow who Charlie took care of while working on a farm this summer, and who recently passed away. The main theme of Willow is a melody Charlie would often play for the farm goats on a small Hungarian folk flute. The theme is transfigured over the course of the music to reflect nature’s flickering tempers and colors, its frayed history and root-knotted ruins, and the infinite wonder and wildness which it inspires.
Photo: Charlie and Willow (goat)
