Imani Winds, December 5, 2023

oneppo ch a m ber music ser i es David Shifrin, artistic director

Imani Winds

Tuesday, December 5, 2023 | 7:30 pm Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall

José García-León, Dean

Program Damien Geter b. 1980

I Said What I Said (2022) Written for Imani Winds. Commissioned by Anima Mundi Productions, Chamber Music Northwest and the Oregon Bach Festival. Premiered April 28, 2022 in Portland, OR.

Carlos Simon b. 1986

Giants (2023) Commissioned by Imani Winds and Shriver Concert Hall Series. Premiered May 14, 2023.

I. Bessie Smith II. Maya Angelou III. Ronald E. McNair IV. Cornel West V. Herbie Hancock

Paquito D’Rivera b. 1948 transc. Valerie Coleman

Kites (2005) Commissioned by Imani Winds. Original version premiered March 1, 2005, Alice Tully Hall, NYC. I. Kites over Havana II. Wind Chimes intermission

Wayne Shorter 1933–2023

Terra Incognita (2008) Written for Imani Winds. Commissioned by the La Jolla Music Society, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Da Camera of Houston and the Library of Congress.

Premiered in La Jolla, CA August 18, 2006.

Andy Akiho b. 1979

BeLoud, BeLoved, BeLonging (2022) Commissioned by Imani Winds with support from the Concert Artists Guild Richard Weinert Award, the Imani Winds Foundation and the Kaufman Music Center.

Premiered October 26, 2022 in New York City.

Billy Taylor 1921–2010 arr. Mark Dover

I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free (1963, arr. 2022)

As a courtesy to others, please silence all devices. Photography and recording of any kind is strictly prohibited. Please do not leave the hall during musical selections. Thank you.

Artist Profiles Imani Winds Brandon Patrick George, flute Toyin Spellman-Diaz, oboe Kevin Newton, horn Mark Dover, clarinet Monica Ellis, bassoon Celebrating over a quarter century of music making, the twice Grammynominated Imani Winds has led both a revolution and evolution of the wind quintet through their dynamic playing, adventurous programming, imaginative collaborations, and outreach endeavors that have inspired audiences of all ages and backgrounds.

The ensemble’s playlist embraces traditional chamber music repertoire, and newly commissioned works from voices that reflect historical events and the times in which we currently live.

Recent projects include a Jessie Montgomery composition inspired by her greatgrandfather’s migration from the American south to the north, socially conscious music by Andy Akiho, reflecting on mass incarceration, and a work by Carlos Simon celebrating iconic figures of the African American community. These works and more have been commissioned as a part of the Legacy Commissioning Project.

Twenty-six seasons of full-time touring have brought Imani Winds to virtually every major chamber music series, performing arts center, and summer festival in the U.S. They regularly perform in

prominent venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Kennedy Center and have a presence at festivals such as Chamber Music Northwest, Chautauqua Institution, and Banff Centre.

Imani Winds thoughtfully curates unique residencies that include performances, workshops, and masterclasses to thousands of students each year at institutions such as the University of Chicago, Eastman School of Music, and Duke University. Their international presence includes concerts throughout Asia, Brazil, Australia, England, New Zealand, and Europe.

Appointed in 2021 as Curtis Institute of Music’s first ever faculty wind quintet, Imani Winds’ commitment to education runs deep. The highly successful Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival, launched in 2010, is an annual summer program devoted to musical excellence and career development for pre-professional instrumentalists and composers. In 2019, the group extended their mission even further by creating the non-profit Imani Winds Foundation, which exists to support, connect, and uplift their initiatives and more.

Imani Winds’ travels through the jazz world are highlighted by their multifaceted association with luminary musicians and composers Wayne Shorter, Paquito D’Rivera, and Jason Moran. Their ambitious project, Josephine Baker: A Life of Le Jazz Hot! featured jazz songstress René Marie in performances that brought the house down in New York, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and St. Louis.

Artist Profiles, cont.

Program Notes

In 2021, Imani Winds released their ninth studio album, Bruits (Bright Shiny Things), which received a 2022 Grammy nomination for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance. Gramophone states, “the ensemble’s hot rapport churns with conviction throughout.”

I Said What I Said geter Patrick Campbell Jankowski

Imani Winds has recordings on Koch International Classics and E1 Music, including their 2006 Grammy-nominated recording The Classical Underground.

They have also recorded for Naxos and Blue Note and released an acclaimed arrangement of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring on Warner Classics. They are regularly heard on all media platforms including NPR, American Public Media, the BBC, SiriusXM, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal.

To date, one of Imani Winds’ most humbling recognitions is a permanent presence in the classical music section of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.

The phrase “I said what I said,” known to many through reality television, has become a common expression especially in the Black community when one finds it necessary to underline a point that has been made in conversation. The bassoon lays down a groove and the texture grows from spare and somewhat fragmented – like the sometimes awkward beginnings of a conversation – to a rich dialogue.

The repetitions of different musical motives – that which has been said, if you will – represents the necessity of reiterating one’s meaning in conversation.

Geter’s composition is not only musically inventive, but relatable on a fundamentally human level.

Giants simon Patrick Campbell Jankowski Composer and activist Carlos Simon’s Giants was premiered just this year by Imani Winds, and it resonates. The composer notes that “each movement is meant to embody their work and personality through music. I want to not only pay homage to these giants, but offer a character study through music of their works.”

Bessie Smith was a pioneer in the American Blues tradition. Her songs and performances shed light on the lives of Black women, and in the decades since her passing have been re-examined through a sociopolitical context. Musically, it

unfolds as a disrupted and disruptive shuffle following an oboe cadenza. Maya Angelou’s portrait begins delicately and blooms into great chordal swells. Ronald E. McNair was a physicist and astronaut, and the second African American to travel to space, who tragically lost his life along with his crew aboard the Challenger in 1986. McNair was also a saxophonist, and had intended to make what would have been the first musical recording in space.

Dr. Cornel West is among the most important voices in social scholarship in this country, and his homage seems to embody his intensity and depth, while retaining a touch of his humor, highlighting the low, resonant sonorities of the bassoon and bass clarinet. Herbie Hancock’s portrait befits a giant of jazz: swung, rhythmically active, and vibrant.

Kites d’rivera, transc. coleman Patrick Campbell Jankowski Composer, bandleader, and performer Paquito D’Rivera’s music embodies the spirit and traditions of Afro-Cuban jazz, synthesized with classical idioms, including the types of ensembles that he composes for, whether string quartets, mixed ensembles, or full symphonic orchestras. He has won over a dozen Grammy Awards, and is considered one of the world’s most prominent Latin Jazz artists. Kites is a two-movement work that begins with “Kites over Havana,” a formidable piece in its own right. An anonymous poem inspires the music:

I would like to be a kite, and soar up over the trees. I would like to try to reach the sky with butterflies and bees.

I would like to be a kite, and with my tail of red and white I’d love to fly so high, the things below would disappear from sight.

When once you have tested flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.

Terra Incognita shorter Patrick Campbell Jankowski Terra Incognita, or “unknown land,” is an appropriate title for this work in a number of ways beyond even its subject matter. It marks the first time that Shorter has written music for an ensemble besides his own, and in doing so he is able to explore the new sonic world of the wind quintet, as well as the inherent personalities of each instrument and performer. It is a work that evolves as it is performed, in that Shorter supplies no instructions in the way of dynamics, texture, or other elements. The musicians are asked to explore the composition – both as an ensemble and as individuals – while they play.

BeLoud, BeLoved, BeLonging akiho Imani Winds BeLoud, BeLoved, BeLonging by composer and steel-pan musician Andy Akiho is a shared musical experience created to make the listener and performer join together to

Program Notes, cont. commune with each other over an important idea – the idea of how we all belong where we are.

The piece was conceived and inspired from the sound of protests by immigrant detainees at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn in 2019. It supplies an unflinching, even relentless exploration of incarceration and the humanity of all involved in the system. Workshopped and performed during the pandemic with a group of incarcerated young men at Rikers Island, the piece follows the theme of Imani Winds’ Bruits, which speaks to the blockage of justice across the United States and around the world, offering commentary on the intersection of race and the prison system.

I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free taylor, arr. dover Mark Dover Jazz pianist, composer, and broadcaster Dr. Billy Taylor originally penned “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free” as a gospel-influenced instrumental tune, dedicated to his daughter Kim, and first released on his 1963 album Right Here, Right Now! Taylor would eventually write the lyrics, with the latter verses assisted by lyricist Dick Lamb.

It was in the mid-1960s that the song was adapted by Nina Simone, during which time she both released her own adaptation on her 1967 album Silk & Soul, and toured the song over the following decade, when it quickly became an anthem of the Civil Rights Movement. The powerful

juxtaposition of the simple yet poignant hymn-like melody and the steadfast call for equality and justice resonated in the collective consciousness of the movement.

Along with other anthems like “A Change Is Gonna Come” and Simone’s own “To Be Young, Gifted, and Black,” it contributed greatly not just to the fight for civil rights, but to the sonic fabric of the 1960s and ’70s.

Through theme and variation, this arrangement pays homage to Taylor’s trio recordings of the song and is indelibly inspired by Simone’s studio recording as well as her legendary live performance at the 1976 Montreux Jazz Festival. The arrangement opens with a five-part chorale and quickly moves into a soul and gospel-based groove that features the bassoon in both the roles of an upright bass and soloist. An improvised clarinet solo follows, interrupted by a sudden modulation into a quintet-wide solo, and then immediately transforms into a fullfledged gospel shout chorus, during which the quintet melds into the sound and spirit of a Hammond organ and rhythm section.

The piece concludes with the theme one last time, with the voices of Mr. Newton and Ms. Spellman-Diaz singing the first verse: I wish I knew how It would feel to be free I wish I could break All the chains holding me I wish I could say All the things that I should say Say ’em loud say ’em clear For the whole round world to hear

Thank you for your support!

Become a Yale School of Music patron and support our performance programs. Earn benefits ranging from preferred seating to invitations to special events. » To join or for more information, visit music.yale.edu/support or contact us at (203) 432–4158. paul hindemith circle $500–$749 Henry & Joan Binder Patricia & Robert Jaeger Marc & Margaret Mann Barbara & Bill Nordhaus Dr. Lorraine Siggins Clifford Slayman horatio parker circle $250–$499 Mr. & Mrs. Douglas J. Crowley Ray Fair Carolyn Gould R. Peter Hunt Barbara & Ivan Katz Lisa Kugelman & Roy Wiseman Abby N. Wells samuel simons sanford circle $125–$249 Anonymous Nina Adams & Moreson Kaplan Stephen & Judith August Dr. & Mrs. Richard A. Flavell Deborah Fried & Kalman Watsky Lauretta Grau & Phillip Pierce Long Hill Farm String Quartet Dr. Leonard E. Munstermann Marion & Richard Petrelli Maryanne & W. Dean Rupp

gustave j. stoeckel circle $50–$124 Anonymous Susan S. Addiss Irma Bachman, in memory of Robert Bachman Nancy & Dick Beals Victor & Susan Bers Linda Burt Elizabeth M. Dock Ellen Cohen & Steven Fraade Elizabeth Greenspan Tom Handler & Joann Knudson Robert & Noël Heimer In memory of Jon T. Hirschoff Jennifer L. Julier Alan & Joan Kliger Judith K. Liebmann, PhD Irene K. Miller Stuart Warner & David Paltiel Gary L. Robison Antoinette Tyndall List as of November 30, 2023

Upcoming Events at YSM dec 6

Lunchtime Chamber Music 12:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall Free admission

dec 6

Callisto Quartet with Misha Amory, viola & Nina Lee, cello YSM Ensembles 7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall Free admission

dec 7

New Music for Orchestra New Music New Haven 7:30 p.m. | Woolsey Hall Free admission

dec 8

Yale Schola Cantorum Christmas Celebration Institute of Sacred Music 7:30 p.m. | Woolsey Hall Free admission

dec 8

Soovin Kim, violin Faculty Artist Series 7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall Free admission

yale school of music box office Sprague Memorial Hall, 470 College Street New Haven, CT 06511 203 432–4158 | music-tickets.yale.edu

wshu 91.1 fm is the media sponsor of the Yale School of Music.

Connect with us @yale.music

yalemusic

@yalemusic

YaleSchoolofMusicOfficial

If you do not intend to save your program, please recycle it in the baskets at the exit doors.