The Eastman Wind Ensemble will be joined on their Feb. 19 concert by The Breaking Winds Bassoon Quartet, which started at the Eastman School of Music and found viral success online while still students with their performance of “Lady Gaga Saga.”
Under conductor Mark Davis Scatterday, the world-renowned Eastman Wind Ensemble will perform the Concerto for Winds by Stephen Gryc; Cheating, Lying, Stealing by David Lang; and Three City Blocks by John Harbison. The concert starts at 8 p.m. in Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre and is free and open to the public.
The Breaking Winds Bassoon Quartet, composed of Brittany Harrington, Yuki Katayama, Kara LaMoure, and Lauren Yu Ziemba, will be the featured soloists, performing the concerto Breaking Out by fellow Eastman graduate Scott Switzer. The work was written for the quartet “to match their individual playing styles,” Switzer wrote. “Thematically the work explores the bassoon’s role in western music . . . this concerto for bassoon quartet and wind ensemble has the bassoon breaking out (sometimes violently) of its traditional classical roots.”
Members of The Breaking Winds, who all received their Bachelor of Music degree at Eastman, began playing together as classmates in the studio of John Hunt. Since graduating, the group keeps a busy schedule of performances that include elements of comedy, pop culture, dance, and percussion. As advocates of music education, they have given more than 50 performances at schools across the country and have worked with band directors and bassoon instructors, most recently with a clinic at the Oregon Music Education Association’s 2014 conference.
The Eastman Wind Ensemble is America’s leading wind ensemble. Founded by Frederick Fennell in 1952, the ensemble became the pioneering force in the symphonic wind band movement in the United States and abroad. The ensemble has released more than 40 recordings; done major tours of the United States, Japan and the Far East; and has been invited to perform at many festivals and music conferences.
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