Few knew that a chance meeting almost four years ago among five woodwind players would develop into a successful collaboration ? the quintet known as Astral Winds.
“We?re all very different in ages and backgrounds,” said Larisa Gelman, the group?s bassoon player. “But sometimes it just clicks.”
And it did in 2003, when these five strangers gathered to perform together at the Young Concert Artists International Auditions.
Today, with a full season of performances mapped out, Astral Winds gathers together in various cities to play.
Gelman will travel from her home in the Bronx, N.Y. to meet up with her friends for a gig this Friday at An die Musik. Paul LaFollette, horn player, and clarinetist Jose Franch-Ballester will both come to Baltimore from Philadelphia, while flutist Jasmine Choi flies in from Cincinnati. Katherine Needleman, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra?s principal oboe, is the group?s only local.
“I love the quintet,” Needleman said. “They are four of my best friends.”
She also loves the intimacy of performing as a quintet, and describes its differences from a full orchestra as allowing a “much broader freedom with the music [and] control of every aspect of the program.”
Friday?s show will highlight “Autumn Music,” composed in 1995 by contemporary composer Jennifer Higdon, who taught Needleman at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia.
“The piece is beautiful, almost dark in color, a vision of lying on the grass and watching the leaves flickering in the sunlight,” Needleman said.
Jacques Ibert?s composition “Trois Pieces Breves” is a characteristically French piece that captures the spirit of awoodwind quartet, according to Gelman.
Included in the program are Klughardt?s romantic and lighthearted “Quintet in C Major, Op.79,” and Eugene Bozza?s “Scherzo.”
“Astral Winds? repertoire is full and rich,” An die Musik owner Henry Wong said. “Last year they played to a packed house.”
“An die Musik is a perfect and intimate room for our music,” Needleman said. “There is involvement with the audience you can?t get in a concert hall.”
IF YOU GO
Astral Winds
» Venue: An die Musik LIVE! 409 N. Charles St., Baltimore
» Time: 8:00 p.m. Friday at Wine reception following the concert
» Tickets: $15; $12 students and seniors
» More info: 410-385-2638
