Bassoonist

Celebrating over 20 years of music making, the twice Grammy nominated Imani Winds has led both a revolution and the evolution of the wind quintet through their dynamic playing, adventurous programming, imaginative collaborations and outreach endeavors that have inspired audiences of all ages and backgrounds. The ensemble’s playlist embraces traditional chamber music repertoire, and as a 21st century group, Imani Winds is devoutly committed to expanding the wind quintet repertoire by commissioning music from new voices that reflect historical events and the times in which we currently live. Imani Winds regularly performs in prominent international concert venues, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Walt Disney Hall and the Kimmel Center. Their touring schedule has taken them throughout the Asian continent, Brazil, Australia, England, New Zealand and across Europe.

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Imani Winds

Ford Center for the Performing Arts

No other quintet has forged such a unique and revolutionary path through the chamber music landscape as the Imani Winds. The ensemble embraces traditional chamber music repertoire while remaining devoutly committed to promoting diversity in the arts. Celebrating over two decades of music making, Imani Winds is recognized for its dynamic playing, adventurous programming, outreach endeavors, and efforts to commission works from new voices that reflect historical events and today’s world. The program features the diversity of American composers and includes a Kennedy Center co-commission by Shawn Okpebholo.

Kennedy Center

The Oberlin-alumni founded woodwind quintet Imani Winds collaborates with cellist Seth Parker Woods, pianist Cory Smythe, and actor Michael Braugher '14 in a program anchored by Jeff Scott’s Fallen Petals of Nameless Flowers, which tells the stories of four Michiganders who were sentenced to life without parole as juveniles.

Imani Winds with cellist Seth Parker Woods, pianist Cory Smythe, and actor Michael Braugher '14

Oberlin College

An all-star lineup of leading musicians comes together to perform two iconic works: Igor Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale Suite and Wynton Marsalis’ A Fiddler’s Tale.

Gateways Chamber Players: A Fiddler’s Tale

Two singular composers tell the tale of a fiddler’s Faustian bargain and musical duel with the devil. The suite from L’histoire du soldat is one of Stravinsky’s most memorable chamber works, retaining the stylistic range, dance elements, and expert instrumentation of his larger-scale compositions. In Wynton Marsalis’s re-imagining, A Fiddler’s Tale, he takes Stravinsky’s early jazz ingredients even further, melding jazz and classical idioms together with an updated narrative—here performed by special guest Phylicia Rashad and conducted by longtime Marsalis collaborator Damien Sneed. Hear both works performed by outstanding members of the acclaimed Gateways Music Festival.

Gateways Chamber Players

Carnegie Hall

For over two decades, the twice Grammy nominated Imani Winds has led both a revolution and evolution of the wind quintet through their dynamic playing, adventurous programming, imaginative collaborations, and outreach endeavors that have inspired audiences of all ages and backgrounds. We are thrilled to officially welcome them to Tippet Rise for their concert debut, having had the privilege of collaborating with them on recording and performance film projects over the past few years. In this special outdoor performance at the Domo by Ensamble Studio, members Brandon Patrick George (flute), Toyin Spellman-Diaz (oboe), Kevin Newton (horn), Mark Dover (clarinet), and Monica Ellis (bassoon) will perform their program titled Black and Brown, which celebrates composers of color including Jeff Scott, Paquito D’Rivera, and Wayne Shorter. The program also features works written for Imani Winds: Reena Esmail’s The Light is the Same, commissioned by The Lied Center of Kansas and premiered in 2017, and Julio Medaglia’s Belle Epoque en Sud-America, commissioned by the La Jolla Music Society, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Da Camera of Houston, and the Library of Congress, which premiered in 2006.

Tippet Rise Art Center

Curtis Institute of Music is thrilled to partner with All Hallows Episcopal Church in Wyncote to bring a group of Curtis student-artists to All Hallows in a series of concerts during the 2022–2023 season.

Monica Ellis

Bassoonist

Events

Apr 9, 2024

Imani Winds · Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts

Apr 3, 2024

Imani Winds · Kennedy Center

Mar 7, 2024

Imani Winds with cellist Seth Parker Woods, pianist Cory Smythe, and actor Michael Braugher '14 · Oberlin Conservatory of Music

Feb 13, 2024

Gateways Chamber Players: A Fiddler’s Tale · Kennedy Center

Oct 22, 2023

Gateways Chamber Players · Carnegie Hall

Future and recently performed repertoire

Bassoon in Afro-Cuban Concerto by Coleman

Curtis Institute of Music

About

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