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The New York City woodwind quintet Imani Winds was featured on the UMKC Conservatory's Signature Series this past Saturday night. With a variety of styles of music all from living composers, the program was a veritable contemporary delight. The musicians were personable and lighthearted, relaying humorous anecdotes and introductions to the works which eased the common stuffy atmosphere of "serious" concerts. It was also enjoyable to watch how much genuine fun they were having on stage playing together and presenting this music.

The very definition of "short and sweet," Red Clay and Mississippi Delta, composed by flutist Valerie Coleman, was rooted in southern soul and an excellent opening piece for the evening. The work was tailored perfectly to the ensemble: exhibiting the nimble playing of all the players through sprightly, flowing passages and featuring jazzy solos for clarinetist Mariam Adam and bassoonist Monica Ellis. It even introduced the easy-going attitude of the group, with a section where they engaged the whole audience in snapping their fingers in time with the music.

Another short and pleasant work, Danza de Mediodia by Arturo Márquez included lively syncopated dance rhythms and lyrical, seductive melodies for all the instruments, with particularly expressive solos played by substitute oboist James Roe and French horn player Jeff Scott. The tempo shifts were superbly controlled and the players were well-balanced with spotless intonation.

The programmatic Five Poems by Karel Husa was one of the stronger pieces on the program. Each part was idiomatic and executed well. The first movement's strong accents and active upward-sweeping lines suggested images of birds pecking and scattering around and displayed the group's skillful rhythmic control. Lively cawing was clearly depicted in the clarinet part of the second movement, and the horn's focused, melancholy solo over dissonant sustained chords aptly represented the third movement's title, "...With a Dead Bird". The flute had a small solo in the fourth movement, "Fighting Birds", but it was overshadowed by the action in the other parts such as fast runs and tremolos. Despite a few ever so slightly iffy entrances in the final movement, "Bird Flying High Above", the group moved from one rich complex harmony to another, reaching the high register together at the end.

Easily the best composition of the night, Imani Winds performed the contemporary woodwind quintet standard Woodwind Quintet (1948) by living master Elliot Carter with accuracy and emotion. Both movements contain interconnected contrasting musical elements, making each instrument's part and the piece as a whole harmonically and melodically compelling, playful, and complicated all at once. It is utterly complete: removing one instrument would diminish the work's effectiveness and depth as each part enhances all the others. This work showcased the rapport and impeccable communication among the musicians.

The first movement of Miguel del Aguila's Wind Quintet No. 2, "Back in Time," began with an andante folk-like melody played by the flute and hummed in unison by the rest of the musicians. The movement's basic yet lovely tune, serene mood, and major tonal center evoked nostalgic feelings for simpler times: a similar effect Norman Rockwell paintings perhaps achieve. The rest of the movements did not live up to the expectations set by the first movement. Including some interesting techniques in theory, such as playing without mouthpieces, percussive use of the instruments, playing from off-stage, and dimming the lights, the results were less effective and felt gimmicky. Musically the movements were unrelated and some were a bit too blatantly programmatic. This is no fault of the ensemble however: they played the work with the same expertise, enthusiasm and sensitivity shown during the entire concert.

Imani Winds' perfect blend of their individual personalities, accomplishments, and sheer talent make them a very solid and charming group. It was wonderful to see a traditional chamber ensemble express such encouragement and exuberance for new music. I look forward to hearing the results of their commissioning projects in the future, which no doubt will be masterfully played.

REVIEW:
UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance: Signature Series
Imani Winds
Saturday, March 27, 2010
White Recital Hall
James C. Olson Performing Arts Center
4949 Cherry Street, Kansas City, MO
www.conservatory.umkc.edu

Top Photo by Chris Carroll.

By Kristin Shafel

Editorial Assignments Executive Editor; Traditional and New Classical Contributor
Kristin Shafel, a native of Madison, WI, moved to Kansas City in 2001 to attend the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance, where she earned both her M.M. and B.M. in composition, with additional focus in double bass performance and arts administration. During her time at UMKC, Kristin was a student leader and performer in many of the Conservatory's student organizations and ensembles, including Musica Nova, Composers' Guild, the Conservatory Student Association, the orchestras, and Wind Symphony. Her composition instructors were James Mobberley, Paul Rudy, Zhou Long and Chen Yi, and her bass instructor was Sue Stubbs.

Kristin's compositions have been performed at national and regional new music festivals and conferences in Missouri, Wisconsin, Texas, Oklahoma, New York, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, and Oregon. She is a member of ASCAP, SCI, NACUSA, IAWM, and Vox Novus. In 2009 Kristin received a 1-year internship with the Chamber Music Society of Kansas City and started regularly volunteering for Charlotte Street Foundation.

Kristin has been a bassist in the Kansas City Civic Orchestra since 2007 (for which she also serves as Bass Section Principal and Concert Annotator) and recently joined the Northland Symphony Orchestra and Heritage Philharmonic. Formerly a guitarist, Kristin performed with big bands and her own jazz combo in Madison, WI, having studied jazz guitar and theory with Roger Brotherhood in Madison. At UMKC, Kristin studied jazz voice and theory with Hal Melia and classical guitar with Douglas Niedt.