April 11, 2025
Emerson Hall, Schwartz Center for Performing Arts
Atlanta, Georgia – USA
Arita Zhulla & William Fedkenheuer, violins; Molly Carr, viola; Astrid Schween, cello.
Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH: Galop
Astor PIAZZOLLA: Verano Porteno
Paquito D’RIVERA: Selections from Aires Tropicales
Astor PIAZZOLLA: Maria de Buenos Aires
Leonard BERNSTEIN: “Maria” from West Side Story
Paul HINDEMITH: “March” from Symphonic Metamorphosis
Lalo SCHIFRIN: La Nouvelle Orleans
Stevie WONDER: Overjoyed
Arturo SANDOVAL: Metales y Maderas
Pablo Beltran RUIZ: Sway
Stanton MOORE: Blues for Ben
Ernesto LECUONA: Malagueña
Mark Gresham | 16 APR 2025
The combined forces of Imani Winds and Boston Brass presented a diverse and high-energy performance last Friday night at Emory University’s Schwartz Center for Performing Arts, delivering an eclectic program that spanned classical works, Latin American tangos, jazz standards, and contemporary compositions.
Imani Winds, a Grammy Award-winning wind quintet based in New York City, is renowned for its adventurous programming and commitment to expanding the wind repertoire through new commissions and diverse collaborations. Boston Brass, known for its bold sound and engaging performances, brings a unique flair to brass chamber music, often blending classical arrangements with jazz and popular music influences. Their joint program featured a blend of classical and contemporary works, culminating in the premiere of a newly commissioned piece by Arturo Sandoval, highlighting the ensembles’ versatility and commitment to new music.
Like string quartets, woodwind quintets and brass quintets are considered standard chamber ensembles. Seven of the dozen works on the program were performed by Boston Brass or Imani Winds alone, but the rest featured the ensembles combined—which, at 10 players, still qualifies as a chamber group.
Combining a brass quintet and a woodwind quintet creates a dynamic and versatile ensemble that expands the sonic and expressive range of each. The blend of warm, reedy woodwinds with bright, resonant brass offers composers a broad palette for color, contrast, and sonic richness while presenting performers with opportunities for heightened ensemble awareness and balance across families. The horn, shared by both quintets, is a natural bridge, helping unify the sound. The two horns sat together in this concert when the groups merged to play.
The resulting variety was as much structural as it is stylistic. The audience hears the individual quintets in their traditional forms, appreciates their core strengths, and then experiences the expanded ensemble as something greater than the sum of its parts. Pieces like Arturo Sandoval’s Metales y Maderas, composed explicitly for this combination, capitalized on this fusion—balancing rhythmic drive, harmonic richness, and enhanced timbral play.
The program opened with Dmitri Shostakovich’s Galop, arranged by J.D. Shaw, establishing a lively tone for the evening. Astor Piazzolla’s Verano Porteno, arranged by trumpeter José Sibaja, followed with its signature tango rhythms and expressive phrasing, performed by Boston Brass. Imani Winds took the stage for selections from Aires Tropicales by Cuban-born composer Paquito D’Rivera, showcasing the group’s fluid ensemble playing and technical agility. The two ensembles then joined forces for a vivid arrangement of music from Act 2 if Piazzolla’s Maria de Buenos Aires by trombonist Domingo Pagliuca, followed by Pagliuca’s reimagining of Leonard Bernstein’s “Maria” from West Side Story.
Boston Brass and Imani Winds collaborated again on Paul Hindemith’s “March” from Symphonic Metamorphosis, arranged by tubist William Russell, concluding the first half with a bold and cohesive performance highlighting the ten-piece ensemble’s rich sonorities.
After intermission, the program resumed with La Nouvelle Orleans by Lalo Schifrin, followed by Overjoyed, a Stevie Wonder ballad arranged by Imani Winds’ clarinetist Mark Dover, in which Imani hornist Kevin Newton put down his instrument temporarily to sing.
One of the evening’s focal points was the premiere of Metales y Maderas by Arturo Sandoval, a newly commissioned work for wind dectet. The piece blended classical structure with elements of Latin jazz, offering moments of both intricate interplay and broad melodic lines.
Boston Brass returned to spotlight arrangements by the late Sam Pilafian, including Sway by Pablo Beltran Ruiz and Stanton Moore’s Blues for Ben, both rendered with charm and stylistic flair.
The Imani Winds then joined Boston Brass to conclude the program with Malagueña by Ernesto Lecuona, arranged by Boston Brass hornist Chris Castellanos, bringing the concert to a rousing close, marking a notable, eclectic collaboration between two of the country’s leading chamber ensembles. ■
Imani Winds and Boston Brass take a bow at Atlanta’s Schwartz Center for Performing Arts. (credit: Bill Head)
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- Imani Winds: imaniwinds.com
- Boston Brass: bostonbrass.com
- Schwartz Center for Performing Arts: schwartz.emory.edu
Read more by Mark Gresham.
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