Five members, five instruments and a multitude of the Powers Woodwind Quintet’s tones will greet audience members in Glidden Recital Hall on Monday.
The visiting ensemble of professors from Central Michigan University has been around since 1963, but this specific lineup has played together for the past three years and consists of five instruments: bassoon, French horn, flute, clarinet and oboe.
Bruce Bonnell, associate professor of horn at Central Michigan and a quintet member since 2000, said the group is considered one of the premier ensembles in the School of Music at CMU. The group has toured throughout the Midwest and has also performed in Japan.
“We all share a common love for the genre,” Bonnell said. “Woodwind quintet is so unique — five very different instrument timbres combining to make a distinctively special ensemble color … We get along very well and look forward to rehearsals, performances and tours.”
The program will consist of pieces that the quintet has never played before in an effort to make the performance challenging for the quintet, said Lindabeth Binkley, assistant professor of oboe and member of the quintet since 2009.
“In the end, it was a matter of deciding what works, (what) would compliment each other and provide enough variety for the listener,” Binkley said. “This program does a good job with that.”
Joanna White, professor of flute and quintet member for 27 years, said the ensemble has a great chemistry not just because they play together in the quintet but in area symphonies as well.
“We really wanted to both show how much fun the woodwind quintet has performing … and our enthusiasm, because we have been playing (for such a long time),” White said.
Bonnell added that the quintet was excited to have the chance to come to OU as well as hold a master class for students interested in the quintet performances.
“We are grateful to our colleagues at the School of Music for extending the invitation, and to Alison Brown Sincoff (associate professor of flute at OU) in particular for helping with all the arrangements,” Bonnell said.
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