Chinook Winds collaborate with special guests for “Quintet + 1”
The Great Falls Symphony’s resident wind quintet, the Chinook Winds, perform their Quintet + 1 concerts at 2PM on Sunday, March 11, at First Congregational Church UCC and 7PM on Tuesday, March 13, at the First United Methodist Church. Single admission is $15.00 for adults and $5.00 for students. Season passes are available for purchase for $75.00 for adults and $25.00 for students. Season passes are punch cards which grant seven admissions in any combination. Single admission tickets and season passes are available for purchase online at gfsymphony.org or at the door. For more information, contact the Symphony office at 406-453-4102 or click here.
The Quintet + 1 concert is the final program in Chinook Winds’ season of collaborations and will bring audiences a diverse range of musical styles grounded in the traditions of the classical wind quintet.
Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, originally written for soprano and orchestra, has been arranged for quintet and soloist. This beautifully lyrical work provides a melodic, though at times haunting, backdrop for text originally written by James Agee about life in his native Knoxville, Tennessee.
The often disjointed and sporadic sounding imitations of bird calls in Henri Tomasi’s Printemps (or Spring) stand in stark contrast to the lyricism of Barber’s work. The composition is scored for the traditional wind quintet plus alto saxophone. The three sections of this work are called “waking of the birds,” “song of love,” and “dance of the birds.” The final section accounts for over half the work and is an exciting and playful ride for the musicians and audience.
Finally, Mozart’s Quintet for Piano and Winds is a masterpiece of the genre. The work features unparalleled writing for all players and many virtuosic displays from the piano, which often has a leading role. The piece was so admired by Beethoven that he later composed a work for the same instrumentation, in the same key, and bearing striking resemblances of structure and melodic material to Mozart’s original.
Heather Barnes, soprano
Heather Barnes, soprano, enjoys performing a diverse repertoire. Performance highlights include Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, Birtwistle’s 9 settings of Lorine Niedecker, Stravinsky’s Three Japanese Lyrics, and Bach’s Magnificat.
Especially important to Ms. Barnes is contemporary music. As the soprano for Diagenesis Duo (a duo with cellist Jennifer Bewerse that specializes in new music) she has given the world premiere of 10 song cycles and pieces. This year, the duo is looking forward to the release of their debut CD Hands and Lips of Wind. Ms. Barnes has an interest in experimental music and recently gave concerts that showcased the graphic scores of Earle Brown and the musical chance poems of Jackson Mac Low.
Ms. Barnes is dedicated to music education and has given masterclasses and workshops in contemporary music, chamber music, and composition readings at Boston Conservatory, the University of Florida, the University of South Florida, the University of California San Diego, and the University of Montana. She is an instructor at Carroll College and has also taught at the University of Montana and Helena College.
Ms. Barnes holds a bachelor of music in vocal performance from the University of Toronto, and a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Montana.
Christopher Hahn, piano
Dr. Christopher Hahn maintains a multifaceted career as pianist, adjudicator, clinician and author. He has been featured as soloist and collaborative artist throughout North America and Europe, and has performed in Carnegie Hall—Weill Recital Hall, the Haydnsaal in Eisenstadt, Austria, The Music Gallery in Toronto, and at institutions such as Northwestern University, the Interlochen Center for the Arts, and Stanford University. He had the honor of performing for the Archbishop Desmond Tutu with the Metropolitan Opera’s Leona Mitchell, and has also performed with such recognized artists as flutist Christina Jennings, trumpet/piano virtuoso Guy Few, pianist Lydia Brown, violinists Timothy Fain and Eugenia Choi, cellist Amit Peled, and Russian dissident poet, Evgeny Yevtushenko. He has coached with Menahem Pressler, Yefim Bronfman, Constance Keene, Angela Cheng, Yong Hi Moon, and Marilyn Horne, and has received extensive chamber music coaching from members of the Penderecki String Quartet and the Gryphon Trio. Dr. Hahn has released a recording of a commissioned work for two pianos and percussion by David Maslanka on the Albany Records label, is a clinician for the Frederick Harris Music Company, and is a published author with Alfred Music. He is a Professor of Piano and Chair of the Keyboard Division at the University of Montana in Missoula.
Johan Eriksson, saxophone
Originally from Sweden, Johan Eriksson is Professor of Saxophone and Jazz Studies at the University of Montana. He is a Yamaha Performing Artist. An active performer, recent highlights include two tours of China in 2015 and 2017 with the Hemispheres Saxophone Quartet, a professional group specializing in classical and jazz performance. The tours culminated with performances in the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. He toured his native Sweden in 2016 and 2018 with jazz guitarist Steve Kovalcheck. As a member of Duo Nyans, a group focused on new music for saxophone and clarinet, he will perform in Belgium and Sweden in the summer of 2018. The duo’s first recorded album is coming out in the spring of 2018. Johan has performed with the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, Rockford Symphony Orchestra, Greeley Symphony Orchestra, Helena Symphony Orchestra, Missoula Symphony Orchestra, and as a soloist with the Butte Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Chamber Singers. He is also active on the jazz scene and has performed with jazz luminaries such as Slide Hampton, Dee Dee Bridewater, Greg Gisberg, Ingrid Jensen, Lee Konitz, Matt Wilson, Ron Miles, Grace Kelly, "Blue" Lou Marini, Donny McCaslin Quartet, and many others. He is on two Dazzle Jazz label recordings ("Into the Open" and "Hold On").
Chinook Winds
As the resident wind quintet of the Great Falls Symphony, members of the Chinook Winds Quintet serve as principal players in the Great Falls Symphony Orchestra as well as present chamber music and interactive school programs and residencies throughout Montana and the Northwest. The Chinook Winds have been performing throughout the region since 1992. Their performances have been praised for their excellent choice of literature, technical proficiency, and impressive artistry. In 2015 the Chinook Winds Quintet was featured on the Montana PBS show 11th & Grant With Erick Funk.
The Chinook Winds includes Norman Gonzales, flute; Lauren Blackerby, oboe; Christopher Mothersole, clarinet; Madeleine Folkerts, horn; and Dorian Antipa, bassoon.
