By Kerry Clawson
Beacon Journal staff writer
When Imani Winds comes to town Monday, the quintet’s outreach will spread well beyond its evening concert at E.J. Thomas Hall in an effort to get numerous segments of the community involved with its vibrant, accessible music.
Presenter Tuesday Musical Association has created a full schedule for the Grammy-nominated wind quintet, appearing in Akron for the second time since 2005. That includes a busy concert day that starts with a master class with University of Akron undergraduates, followed by a rehearsal with a UA graduate wind quintet that afternoon before Imani Winds’ evening performance.
Imani Winds, comprised Valerie Coleman (left), flute; Mariam Adam, clarinet; Monica Ellis, bassoon: Toyin Spellman-Diaz, oboe; Jeff Scott, French horn. photo by Chris Carroll
Monday’s concert promises to be a career highlight for graduate quintet members Cassandra Dries (flute), Michael Resanovic (oboe), Ann Hung (clarinet), Thomas Breadon (bassoon) and Ben Strecker (French horn), who will perform Astor Piazzolla’s Libertango with Imani Winds. The piece, which has been recorded by Imani Winds, has been arranged for double quintet by Imani French horn player Jeff Scott.
First-year grad student Dries, 24, said her quintet has been gearing up for the big performance by rehearsing the piece a couple of times together and listening to Imani’s recording.
”It’s a difficult thing to do, not knowing what their tempos will be,” said Dries, whose group will have just one rehearsal with Imani Winds.
The student group, which formed last fall, learned it would be appearing with Imani through flute professor George Pope.
”It was very surprising and we’re very excited about it, that we get to play with a group as well known as they are and as talented as they are. It’s a great opportunity,” Dries said.
Imani Winds, made up of Scott on French horn, Valerie Coleman on flute, Toyin Spellman-Diaz on oboe, Mariam Adam on clarinet and Monica Ellis on bassoon, has been together since 1997. The group, known for its genre-blurring collaborations, performs standard classical repertoire while also bridging European, American, African and Latin American traditions.
The ensemble’s five members, all black or Hispanic, have a goal of serving as role models for other musicians of color. In 2005, the quintet performed at Akron’s Perkins Middle School. This year, members will give a lecture/demo Tuesday morning to hundreds of students at Buchtel High School through the Project GRAD program, with hundreds more music students from Perkins, Crouse, Rankin Schumacher, Firestone High School and Miller South bused in for the event.
The student population at Buchtel cluster schools is 95 percent to 97 percent black.
”I chose the Buchtel cluster because of Project GRAD and its mission” to ensure a quality public school education for all at-risk children so that high school graduation rates increase, said Barbara Feld, director of Tuesday Musical. ”All young people need role models, and today more than ever. Imani musicians related beautifully to students of color when they performed here before.”
Jackie Silas-Butler, executive director of Project GRAD, said scores of kids will also attend Imani’s concert Monday evening, with transportation covered by Tuesday Musical.
”This is very important for kids of color to see people of color doing this [high level of musical performance], because sometimes they’re not exposed to that or they’re isolated,” Silas-Butler said.
Giving Imani Winds’ Akron performance extra flavor Monday is the world premiere of the piece Travesias Panamenas, co-commissioned by Tuesday Musical with Interlochen Center for the Arts in Interlochen, Mich., from Panamanian composer Danilo Perez. Perez, a Grammy-winning jazz pianist/composer, is known for his distinctive blend of Pan-American jazz, which covers music of the Americas and folkloric and world music.
His new piece is part of Imani’s Legacy Commissioning Project to commission, premiere and tour 10 works for woodwind quintet written by established and emerging composers of diverse musical backgrounds. Imani’s commissioning also ties into Tuesday Musical’s strategic plan to commission more works.
Traversias Panamenas incorporates folk rhythms and melodies from Panamanian traditions as well as modern jazz influences.
According to Feld, a jazz pianist composing for a wind ensemble isn’t so unusual anymore: ”Nobody is defined. . . . The fact that they’re able to mesh together and segue from one art form into another opens up the whole arts experience.”
Imani Winds will also perform two 30-minute concerts Tuesday afternoon in the Palliative Care Unit and the Jean B. and Milton N. Cooper Cancer Center Infusion Unit at Akron City Hospital. Summa Foundation is a concert sponsor, and Imani’s performances are part of the hospital system’s HealingArt Program. It brings the arts into public spaces and patient areas of the Summa Health System to help healing by reducing stress and encouraging a sense of calm. The program, which also benefits family and hospital staff, is open to the public.
”Through our partnership with Tuesday Musical Association, we have been able to bring nationally acclaimed artists in to perform in some of our patient-care areas and public spaces. The goal of these performances will be to provide music that will bring a sense of comfort to our patients and their families,” said Brenda Cummins, director of community engagement for the Summa Foundation.
Arts writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.
