Concert Celebrates Black and Brown composers
Chamber Music Pittsburgh (CMP) is honored to host the revolutionary quintet Imani Winds for a chamber music performance celebrating their one-year artist residency with the organization. This concert is part of CMP’s MainStage Live series, which explores the vibrancy and diversity of the chamber music genre. It takes place on Monday, Dec. 5, at Pittsburgh Playhouse’s PNC Theatre in Downtown Pittsburgh.
“We are immensely grateful for the opportunity to partner so closely with Imani Winds through our inaugural artist residency,” says Kristen Linfante, executive director of Chamber Music Pittsburgh. “Their extraordinary musical talent and passion for community engagement have created a rich foundation for this program to continue to flourish. The MainStage concert is our public celebration of this collaboration, their excellence, and the joy they bring to the chamber music community.”
Grammy-nominated quintet Imani Winds, praised for their “hot rapport” and “conviction” (Gramophone), presents a concert dedicated to works by Black and Brown composers, including Jeff Scott, Valerie Coleman, and Paquito D’Rivera, among others. Throughout their two decades of performance, the quintet has led a revolution and evolution of the wind quintet through their imaginative collaborations, dedication to works from Black and Brown composers, and programs that speak to contemporary social justice issues.
With this concert, we continue our pursuit to display diverse voices that exist in wind classical music today,” says Monica Ellis, bassoonist for Imani Winds (pictured). “For so long, the compositional points of view of composers of color were not widely seen. We exist to change that narrative. And simply put, the music is joyful, virtuosic, entertaining, unique, and thought-provoking.”
Imani Winds’ repertoire embraces a range of chamber music genres and eras, including traditional works by famous composers as well as commissions from new voices that reflect contemporary issues. This concert is the culmination of the quintet’s year-long CMP artist residency, a program that highlights and supports chamber musicians through performance opportunities and collaborations with local organizations, like the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra, Three Rivers Young Peoples Orchestra and Youth Chamber Connection, and Pittsburgh’s Creative and Performing Arts School.
Imani Winds features Brandon Patrick George on flute, Toyin Spellman-Diaz on oboe, Kevin Newton on French horn, Mark Dover on clarinet, and Monica Ellis on bassoon.
Individual tickets for the 2022–23 MainStage Live concerts range from $35–53 and can be purchased online.