Pacific Arts Woodwind Quintet

April 21, 7:30pm in the Recital Hall

Program:
Quintet No. 3 in F-Dur, Guiseppe Maria Cambini (1746-1825)

The French Quintet, Ron Caviani (1931-?)

Quintet, John Steinmetz

“La Nouvelle Orleans,”  Lalo Schifrin (1932- )

The members of the Pacific Arts Woodwind Quintet wear many hats:  that of professor, chamber musician, orchestral musician, and also that of soloist.  This past season, our members have been active performing solos with orchestras in the region and beyond.

Thomas Nugent performed the Strauss Concerto for Oboe in D major, op. 144 the Sacramento Philharmonic, 8pm February 21, 2009 at the Community Center Theater.

Patricia Shands performed the Mozart Clarinet Concerto with the Stockton Symphony to great acclaim. ”Her performance of Mozart’s  Clarinet Concerto was an impressive display of musical rhetoric, as she literally breathed new life into the work. Demonstrating precise control across the various registers of the instrument, Shands played with an imaginative palette of sound from the opening theme onward.”  The Stockton Record

Mathew Krejci was a soloist with the University of the Pacific Conservatory orchestra for their opening concert, performing Griffes Poem for flute and orchestra.

Nicolasa Kuster traveled to Kansas in November to perform the Mozart Concerto in Bb with the Wichita Symphony. “Nicolasa Kuster’s performance of Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto was full of both refinement and high spirits….the soloist’s delightful interpretation….was a delight to hear, and Kuster’s cadenzas were breathtaking both for the beauty of her playing and the wit and wisdom of her use of silence between phrases.”  The Wichita Eagle

The Pacific Arts Woodwind Quintet, faculty ensemble at the University of the Pacific performed a concert of wind chamber music in Faye Spanos Concert Hall on November 4, 2008.   Yes, election results were presented to the audience at intervals throughout the evening!

Newest member, bassoonist Nicolasa Kuster, joined the established ensemble of Mathew Krejci – flute, Thomas Nugent – oboe, Patricia Shands – clarinet, Jennie Blomster – horn.  Works performed were a sprightly Franz Danzi classical quintet, Samuel Barber’s inimitable Summer Music, a charming woodwind quintet version of Six Cuban Dances by  Ignacio Cervantes and John Harbison’s dramatic and acrobatic Quintet.  

After presenting a classical introduction with Franz Danzi’s (1763-1826) Op. 56, No. 2 in g minor,  the quintet performed the quintessential American woodwind quintet, Barber’s Summer Music.  Pulitzer Prize winning Samuel Barber (1910-1981) masterfully crafted this work with romantic structures and sensibilities, creating a gem for the woodwind repertoire.  This supremely lyrical, rhythmically complex, and harmonically rich work evokes images of a simpler time: trains in the distance, picnics, lazy afternoons, lemonade sipped in rocking chairs, clanging trolleys, and love.

Ignacio Cervantes (1847-1905) wrote Six Cuban Dances for piano in 1898; they blend the European piano style of Chopin and Liszt with the rhythms and songs of Cervantes’ native Cuba.  A charming salon style is the result of this mix and hearing it with the voices of wind instruments is a unique treat.  The titles to the dances are: 1. La Tarde Esta Amorosa (How Charming the Evening) 2. Mis Amores (My Loves) 3. Ditirambica (Homage to Bacchus) 4. Tintilla de Rota (The Wine of Rota) 5. No Llores Mas (Weep No Longer) 6. De Mil Amores (With All My Heart)

The concert ended with the famed Harbison Quintet.  John Harbison (1938- ), another Pulitzer Prize winning composer, spins a web of timbres, textures, and instrumental characters, mixing the colors of the woodwind instruments and horn in an unparalleled way. This incredible masterwork is considered by many to be the most difficult work for woodwind quintet. The work is certainly an audience favorite, rarely heard in live performance.

Greetings from the Pacific Arts Woodwind Quintet and welcome to our new website.  We will be adding news and features about our Quintet over time. 

A highlight from the past year was a performance at the International Double Reed Society conference on the campus of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.  The concert, held in the beautiful De Jong Concert Hall, was a featured event at the conference.  A shining gem on the performance was  Voile de lune composed by fellow University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music professor Dr. François Rose.  Also on the program was Conrad De Jong’s Variations on a Spanish La Folia.  The concert was enthusiastically received by a very appreciative audience.  Here is the group in rehearsal (David Grainger on bassoon.)