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SUMMER 2006 IS FILLED WITH EXCITING WORLD PREMIERES
This summer Imani Winds is honored and excited to premiere THREE new works written especially for the group.
On July 18, during the BRAVO! Vail Valley Music Festival SHOUT CHORUS, by composer-in-residence Kenji Bunch, will be premiered. Regarding the piece, the composer says...
Shout Chorus is a study in the juxtaposition of, and eventual convergence, of disparate elements. Unlike a string quartet or brass quintet, the instruments of a woodwind quintet are famously contrasting, and an attempt to blend them can seem a daunting, frustrating task to a composer. After much struggle, I realized that the beauty of the ensemble was exactly in its refusal to blend into a homogenous sound. A shout chorus in big band jazz is a climactic unison passage with usually highly complex syncopated rhythms. In this work, the instruments stubbornly stick to their tonalities and rhythms, setting up polytonal and polyrhythmic textures for the entire piece until the celebratory unison statement at the end.
In August, IW will be performing during the La Jolla Music Society, 20th Anniversary Summerfest.
On August 18, IW will give the world premiere of TERRA INCOGNITA, by jazz composer, performer and legend ~ the great Wayne Shorter! We are truly humbled by the opportunity to premiere the FIRST work that Mr Shorter has written for an ensemble that he is NOT apart of! What this means is that we have the responsibility of relaying his musical message without the benefit of having the master play along. A challenging, but exciting endeavor, indeed.
Wayne Shorter has performed with and written for Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, just to name a few, and his own groundbreaking fusion band of the 70's and 80's, Weather Report. The La Jolla Music Society along with Da Camera of Houston, the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts and the Library of Congress formed the consortium to support this commission.
Also, in La Jolla, on August 19, for an audience of young people, the world premiere of ZEPHYRONIA by children's composer guru, Bruce Adolphe, will take place. Polly Rhythm Productions, is also supporting the piece.
Zephyronia Is...
a comic musical parable about energy & the power of the imagination
a piece about wind energy for wind instruments!
Music by Bruce Adolphe & Story by Louise Gikow
On the far-away planet Zephyronia, the Emperor allows his citizens only one source of energy, called zozzle, and he happens to own it all. They use so much Zozzle on Zephyronia that it's contaminating the air and water, and no one has seen a bird or a butterfly or even a blade of grass in many years. During the wildly extravagant birthday celebration for the Emperor, Zephyronia runs out of Zozzle and the planet is plunged into darkness. Nothing works - except in the home of a brilliant inventor, Florio, and his clever granddaughter, Flutter. They run everything on wind power! Seeing the light -- the Emperor gets a brilliant idea and puts Florio and Flutter in charge of solving the crisis, and with their wind-powered inventions, they prove that there is more than one way to run a planet. The birds, butterflies, and grass return, and the Emperor, Florio, and Flutter rejoice in the dawn of a new era for Zephyronia.
We are extremely pleased to be able to add these incredible pieces to the wind quintet repertoire. It continues to show the breadth and diversity of the genre. Please check out the calendar for specific information regarding each performance.
IMANI WINDS IS NOMINATED FOR A 2006 GRAMMY AWARD!The critically acclaimed, sophomore album, The Classical Underground, has been nominated for a 2006 Grammy Award, the highest honor in the music business. The nominated category is "Best Classical Crossover" Album. Wish us luck on February 8th!
For more info check out www.grammy.com
IMANI WINDS PRESENTS...JOSEPHINE BAKER:
A LIFE of LE JAZZ HOT!
Year 2006, will be an exhilarating one! Entertainer extraordinaire, Josephine Baker, would be 100 years old, and Imani Winds is throwing a party! This program will featuring the singing talent of chanteuse, Rene Marie, the creativity of choreographer, Christopher Huggins and dancer, Rachel Ashley and the brand new music of Imani's own Valerie Coleman and Jeff Scott, all brought together by director, Bobbi Williams. This multi-media historical performance will attempt to address the issues that make Josephine Baker's life so intriguing and haunting, while doing so through her art forms of music, dance and drama.
Performances include Washington University's Edison Theatre in Baker's hometown of St. Louis, as well as the African American Cultural Center in Pittsburgh, PA. Stay tuned to the Calendar for more performances.
Click here for a PDF file of our flyer for
JOSEPHINE BAKER: A LIFE of LE JAZZ HOT!
IMANI WINDS is the 1st place Recipient of the ASCAP/ Chamber Music America Award for Adventurous Programming.This award is in recognition of IW's commitment to contemporary classical music of today.
PAQUITO D'RIVERA AND IMANI WINDS: TOGETHER AGAIN
IW teams up yet again with none other than Paquito D'Rivera to perform his newly commissioned work for quintet, solo clarinet and piano, Kites Over Havana. The work is a unique blend of D'Rivera's nostalgia for his native Cuba with resonant sounds that allows the listener a contemporary experience of the travels and memories of D'Rivera's career. IW's love affair with Paquito's music and also the beautiful human being behind the music has lead to this most unique collaboration. Imani Winds performed the premiere at the Fontana Chamber Music Association in Kalamazoo, MI and then in New York City at Alice Tully Hall in the culminating event of last season. This season contains many more performances in Ohio, Denver, San Antonio and Pennsylvania.
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