The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music news: Pro Arte String Quartet concert today has been CANCELLED

By Jacob Stockinger

An quick update:

The “Sunday Afternoon Live at the Chazen” recital by the Pro Arte String Quartet (below), originally scheduled for today, Sunday, December 5, at 12:30 p.m. has been cancelled.

Classical music: UW’s acclaimed Winga Woodwind Quintet to mark 45 years with a free concert and former members this Wednesday night

By Jacob Stockinger

I usually don’t reproduce press releases in their entirety or something close to it. But this one covers all the necessary information succinctly and is worth it.

Plus, it is an important event coming up this week.

So here is the UW-Madison School of Music press release:

The Wingra Woodwind Quintet, a faculty ensemble in residence at UW-Madison, will perform for the Faculty Concert Series this Wednesday night, December 8, at 7:30 p.m. in Morphy Hall.

The quintet was founded in 1965 and is one of the longest serving ensembles associated with a college or university in the nation.

The program will be devoted to works composed or arranged by members of the quintet.

It will begin with “March” by John Barrows (1913-1974), the founding horn player, and continue with the premiere of “Three Moods for Woodwind Quintet” by Douglas Hill (below), horn player from 1974 to 1985 and currently the hornist with the Wisconsin Brass Quintet. (Hill will retire this spring.)

Other works on the program include “Suite française” by Francis Poulenc, arranged by Richard Lottridge, founding bassoonist; tunes by Alec Wilder, Jimmy Dorsey and Duke Ellington as arranged by Glenn Bowen, founding clarinetist; and selections from “Bagatelles,” Op. 6 by Béla Bartók, arranged by Marc Vallon, current bassoonist with the quintet.

The Wingra Quintet (below) has performed for colleges, schools and concert series throughout the state of Wisconsin and for national and international conferences.  In 1980, the quintet performed at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall, receiving a favorable review in “The New York Times.”

In 2005 and again in 2009, the quintet traveled to France to perform at the International Wind Quintet festival in Marseille, Nice and Carry le Rouet, and led master classes at the premier conservatories in Paris and Marseille.

Four members of the Wingra Quintet hold professorships at UW-Madison, where they are responsible for the studios for their instruments:  Stephanie Jutt, flute; Marc Fink, oboe; Linda Bartley, clarinet; and Marc Vallon, bassoon.  The fifth member, horn player Linda Kimball, teaches at UW-Whitewater.  The quintet has held short-term residencies at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, Cornell, Florida State, Northwestern and a number of others.

Wingra has recorded for Golden Crest and Spectrum and most recently recorded transcriptions for woodwind quintet of two string quartets by Dvorak for the School of Music’s CD series, available for purchase from the school’s online CD store.  In addition, their educational video, “Developing Woodwind Ensembles,” produced by the Division of Continuing Studies at UW-Madison, has found an important place in chamber music pedagogy.

Admission is free to the concert on Wednesday and the public is welcome to a post-concert reception honoring current and former members of the Wingra Quintet.

Here are some photos of the Wingra Quintet in some of its configurations:

The members (above top, left-to-right) in the original (1965) quintet are: Robert Cole, flute; Harry Peters, oboe; John Barrows, horn; Richard Lottridge, bassoon; and Glenn Bowen, clarinet.

In 1977 (above bottom), the members were Marc Fink, oboe; Bowen; Lottridge; Cole; and Douglas Hill, horn.

In 1990 (above top), they were Nancy Becknell, horn; Lottridge; Stephanie Jutt, flute; Fink; and Bowen.

The current quintet’s members (above bottom) are Marc Vallon, bassoon; Jutt; Linda Kimball, horn; Fink; and Linda Bartley, clarinet.  (The photo was taken a few years ago, but is marked 2010 to show its current members.)

The Quintet expects five former members to be in attendance on Wednesday:  Cole, Lottridge, Becknell, Hill and flutist Dawn Lawler. Glenn Bowen, who lives in Tucson, sent his regrets.

Do you have a message or greeting to the Wingra Woodwind Quintet on the occasion of its 45th anniversary?

The Ear wants to hear.