Madera Wind Quintet

The Madera Wind Quintet is very excited to announce the results of our 2012 Call for Scores. After sifting through 130 submissions, we narrowed it down to twelve finalists and then selected five works for performance on our spring concert program and for an upcoming recording project.

Those five pieces are:

Sean Friar – Short Winds

Daniel Nass – Scherzophrenia

Peter Nickol – Ultramarine

Carl Schimmel – Towns of Wind and Wood

Philip Wharton – Quintet

The other seven finalists were:

Ken Davies – Veiled Places

Matt Frey – Sums of Parts

Nick Omiccioli – Flourishes

Yiwen Shen – Walpurgisnacht

Phillip Sink – Two Poems for Wind Quintet

Anthony Suter – while in gardens of sleet and stone

Chen Yao – Sfumato

We were surprised at the number of submissions received, but extremely happy with the quality of the works we had to choose from.  Thanks to all the composers who took the time to send us their work and made this decision a very difficult one, indeed.

We will be performing the five winning scores in concert on March 11 as part of the Dolce Chamber Music Players 2012 Concert Series, and we are currently working to schedule more performances of the program this spring.  More details soon!

The good news: we received over 130 submissions for our 2012 Call for Scores!

The bad news: it takes a long time to sift through that many scores, so it has taken us longer than expected to select our favorites. We are hard at work reviewing all the submissions and planning concerts for the spring, so check back later this month for more information!

The Madera Wind Quintet is pleased to announce our 2012 Call for Scores.

The Madera Wind Quintet seeks scores to perform on their 2012 Spring Concert in Denton, TX. Works should utilize all five players, but may include doublings; our instrumentation is flute/piccolo, clarinet/bass clarinet, oboe/english horn, bassoon, and horn. There is no duration limit, but very long works (15 minutes or more) may be difficult for us to program. Composers of all ages and nationalities are welcome to submit one score for consideration.

Three to five scores will be selected for performance on our Spring Concert in Denton, TX, with potential for additional performance opportunities. Composers of selected works will receive a live recording as well as a professionally edited studio recording of their piece.

Submissions should include (1) score and parts in PDF format, (2) short composer bio, and (3) if available, an audio file or link to streaming or downloadable audio. Please e-mail materials (maximum attachment size 25 MB) to maderawindquintet@gmail.com.

Deadline: November 1, 2011

The Madera Wind Quintet was established in the fall of 2008 by students and alumni of the University of North Texas. Based in Denton, Texas, Madera performs a variety of quintet literature, including standards of the genre as well as new works. Also committed to educating students about chamber music, the Madera Wind Quintet has performed and taught master classes in area schools. The quintet includes members who are on faculty at Texas Woman’s University and Southeastern Oklahoma State University. For more information and audio/video samples, visit http://www.maderawindquintet.com.

Tomorrow, the Madera Wind Quintet will be performing a new work written for us by Sarah Summar.  The piece is called Tó Neinilii’s Mischief, named for the Navajo god of water, who “takes pleasure in bringing or withholding rain from the human population when it is least convenient for them.”  In the piece, Sarah combines a Navajo dance, a Hispano ballad, and a cowboy song into an intricate ensemble piece for wind quintet.  The pointillistic, post-minimalist style presents rhythmic challenges for the quintet, but the resulting music is delightful.  We look forward to giving the work its premiere performance tomorrow at 8PM in the Merrill Ellis Intermedia Theater at the University of North Texas.

For more information about composer Sarah Summar, visit her website.

We’re nearly finished with our Texas-Oklahoma Tour, which will conclude with our performance at the University of North Texas next Friday, Jan. 28. Here are a couple highlights from our Tuesday concert at Southwestern Adventist University. Enjoy!

Eugène Bozza, Scherzo, live performance 1/18/11

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David Maslanka Quintet No.3, Mvt. I, live performance 1/18/11

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We are intensively rehearsing for our Texas-Oklahoma Tour which begins this Wednesday at TCU. This week, we have overcome Texas snow, health issues, and our (always) busy schedules to prepare an exciting program:

Three Summer Evenings – Charles Rochester Young (b. 1965)

I. Fireworks

Quintette – Claude-Paul Taffanel (1844-1908)

I. Allegro con moto

Three Shanties – Malcolm Arnold (1921-2006)

I. Allegro con brio

II. Allegretto semplice

III. Allegro vivace

Kleine Kammermusik für fünf Bläser – Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)

I. Lustig. Mässig schnelle

II. Walzer. Durchweg sehr leise

III. Ruhig und einfach

IV. Schnelle

V. Sehr lebhaft

Quintet for Winds No. 3 – David Maslanka (b. 1943)

I. Quarter = 56

Scherzo Op. 48 – Eugène Bozza (1905-1991)

Madera Wind Quintet Texas-Oklahoma Tour 2011

Jan. 12, 7:00 PM, PepsiCo Recital Hall, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX

Jan. 13, 6:30 PM, Recital Hall, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Durant, OK

Jan. 18, 7:00 PM, Southwestern Adventist University, Keene, TX

Jan. 28, 6:30 PM, Voertman Hall, University of North Texas, Denton, TX

We are currently working to plan our January Tour of Texas, Oklahoma, and beyond!

We’ll make an official announcement when the dates are confirmed, but we are excited to be performing a new work written for us by University of North Texas composer Sarah Summar, as well as a mix of quintet standards and newer works. More info soon!

We are the Madera Wind Quintet, from Denton, Texas.  Our quintet has been performing for over two years, and we decided it was time to make a website.  We will be posting news, audio clips, photos, and more, so check back soon!