Oboe of the family (it is usually pitched in E or F above the oboe), and the contrabass oboe (typically pitched in C, two octaves deeper than the standard oboe). Folk versions of the oboe, sometimes equipped with extensive keywork, are found throughout Europe. These include the musette (France) and the piston oboe and bombarde (Brittany), the piffero and ciaramella (Italy), and the xirimia (also spelled chirimia) (Spain). Many of these are played in tandem with local forms of bagpipe, particularly with the Italian zampogna or Breton biniou. Similar oboe-like instruments, most believed to derive from Middle Eastern models, are also
Oboe Concerto (Higdon) Oboe Concerto (Higdon) The Oboe Concerto is a concerto for a solo oboe and orchestra by the American composer Jennifer Higdon. The work was commissioned by the Minnesota Commissioning Club and was premiered on September 9, 2005 by the oboist Kathy Greenbank and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Higdon later reworked the piece into her Soprano Sax Concerto in 2007. The Oboe Concerto is composed in a single movement and has a duration of roughly 17 minutes. Higdon described the composition of the piece in the score program notes, writing: She added, "I have always thought of the oboe as