About Us

Our Mission:

The Madera Wind Quintet shares the chamber music experience with diverse populations through performance, recording, and educational programs. We are passionate advocates for the wind quintet genre while also working to expand it through collaborative music projects, commissions and publications.


About Us:

In 2008, five musicians with a shared love for chamber music came together in Denton, Texas to form the Madera Wind Quintet. Madera has recorded two albums: Five at Play (2012) and Five Piece Combo, to be released in October 2015. Performing for diverse audiences across the United States, they have quickly become known as one of today’s most exciting wind quintets.

Exploring the fringes of the quintet repertoire ­— new music, forgotten gems, original arrangements and music for children — Madera also engages audiences with the classic repertoire and beauty of the wind quintet sonority.

Madera premiered the International Joint Wind Quintet Commissioning Project’s winning composition at the 2012 International Double Reed Society and International Horn Society conferences, and was featured at the 2015 TMEA conference. Educational outreach is also important to Madera, whose work includes workshops and clinics for students of all ages.


Current Members:

Jorge Cruz, Jr., bassoon

Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, bassoonist Jorge Cruz holds a Bachelor of Music from San Jose State University and a Master of Music from the University of North Texas.  He is currently working on his doctoral degree at the University of North Texas. He has studied with Kathleen Reynolds, Keith Collins, Jerry Dagg, and Cyrle Perry. Jorge plays in the University of North Texas Wind Symphony, Symphony Orchestra, Opera Orchestra and Baroque Orchestra. He also performs regularly with the Sherman Symphony.

Jorge has been an enlisted member of the Air National Guard for nine years serving as a musician and had the distinct honor of deploying overseas in the summer of 2011. He is currently a member of the 531st Air National Guard Band of the Gulf Coast. Prior to his move to Texas, Jorge served as adjunct faculty at Chabot Community College. He currently teaches privately in the Dallas-Fort Worth Area.



Jason Paschall, oboe

Jason Paschall, originally from Fort Worth, TX, has been studying the oboe since the age of eleven. He received a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, TX. During that time Jason won the university’s concerto/aria competition and performed the final movement of Molique’s Concertino for Oboe with the SFA’s University Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Paschall also received distinction as a Presser Scholar and was awarded the “Zelma Childers Outstanding College of Fine Arts Graduate Award.” Jason continued his studies with a full graduate assistantship at the University of Northern Colorado where he received his Masters of Music degree in oboe performance. He then received an Artist’s Certificate in Oboe Performance from the University of Missouri – Kansas City, where he was the oboist for the UMKC Graduate Fellowship Woodwind Quintet.

Currently, Jason is pursuing his Doctorate of Musical Arts degree at the University of North Texas and is an active teacher and performer in the DFW area. He has played with a number of ensembles over the years, including the Cheyenne Symphony, Wyoming Symphony, Fort Collins Symphony, Opera Fort Collins and Kansas City Symphony. His teachers include Dr. Laura Shouha, Dr. John Goodall, Dr. Sarah Bierhaus, Melissa Pena, Barbara Bishop and Jim Ryon.


Amy Thiemann, flute

Amy Thiemann currently serves as a Teaching Fellow at the University of North Texas, where she is pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts in Flute Performance and Literature.  She received her Bachelor of Music degree in flute performance from Hastings College and her Master of Music degree in flute performance from Ithaca College.
During her time at Hastings, she was awarded the prestigious Presser Scholar Award and performed as a Young Artist soloist with the Hastings Symphony Orchestra.  At Ithaca College, she was given a graduate teaching assistantship and was invited into the Pi Kappa Lambda music honor society.  Ms. Thiemann previously served as Flute Instructor at Concordia University in Seward, NE, and performed regularly with the Omaha Symphony Orchestra in Omaha, NE.  Her primary teachers include Terri Sundberg, Jill Felber, Maria Harding, and Wendy Mehne.   She is an active freelancer and teacher in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.




Angela Winter, horn

Angela Winter is originally from Memphis, Tennessee where she began here musical studies and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from the University of Memphis.  She first came to the DFW area in 2000 to attend the University of North Texas in Denton where she received her Master’s degree in Horn Performance. During this time, Angela played in an award winning brass quintet and participated in many prestigious summer music festivals.  Upon completion of this degree, Angela won a position in the Orchestra Symphonica de Nuevo Leon in Monterrey, Mexico.  She performed with the orchestra for four seasons and was an active freelancer in the Monterrey area.  Angela is currently  professor of horn at Texas Woman’s University, and is working on a DMA in horn performance from the University of North Texas.  She has a large private horn studio and has become an active freelance musician in the DFW area.



RY 2015Rachel Yoder, clarinet

Rachel Yoder is a versatile clarinetist and bass clarinetist newly relocated to the Seattle area. She currently performs with the Madera Wind Quintet, Seattle Modern Orchestra and the Odd Partials clarinet/electronics duo. She has performed and presented throughout the United States, including frequent appearances at International Clarinet Association ClarinetFest conferences and Society for Electroacoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS) conferences. Her orchestral experience includes five years as bass clarinetist with the Sherman Symphony Orchestra.

Rachel has taught at Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant, OK, and as a teaching fellow at the University of North Texas, where she earned a doctorate in clarinet performance. She also holds degrees from Michigan State University and Ball State University. A specialist in contemporary music, Rachel is a sought-after chamber music collaborator and works frequently with composers on new works for clarinet and bass clarinet. Her work in arts administration includes co-founding the Madera Wind Quintet in 2008 and her current position as assistant editor of The Clarinet, quarterly journal of the International Clarinet Association.




Past members:

Katrina Elsnick, flute (2009-2013)

Andrew Gresham, oboe (2012-2013)

Natalie Lorch, oboe (2010-2012)

Stephan Friel, oboe (2010)

Patricia Surman, flute (2008)

Keith Bjorklund, oboe (2008 – 2009)