Conwell Woodwind Quintet to give concert, classes March 25
A woodwind quintet of musicians who are members of the Philadelphia Orchestra will return to Skidmore College to perform in concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 25, in Filene Recital Hall.
The Conwell Woodwind Quintet, which also presented master classes for woodwind and brass students at the college last October, will return for a second visit as part of its Filene Concert Series residency at Skidmore.
The quintet's program will include works by Holst and Jongen, among others.
In addition to the afternoon performance, Conwell ensemble members will present four concurrent and back-to-back master classes for solo and ensemble literature beginning at 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. in the Filene Music Building.
All events are open to the public. General admission for the concert will be $5; students and seniors, $2.
A longtime resident ensemble at Temple University's Esther Boyer College of Music, the group took its name from Temple's founder, the late Dr. Russell Conwell, and its musicians teach at that Philadelphia college.
Four of the quintet's members are members of the Philadelphia Orchestra: Loren Lind, flute; Peter Smith, Oboe; Angela Anderson, bassoon; and Shelly Showers, French horn.
A fifth member, clarinetist Larry Wagner, is a professor emeritus at the Esther Boyer College of Music, where he was the resident conductor of the college orchestra for more than 30 years. Wagner also played as a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra in the mid-1960s and is a regular substitute in its clarinet section.
According to Lind, who founded the quintet with Wagner, the ensemble's sound benefits from the members' having performed together so often in the orchestra, as well as playing at least two concerts each season.
"We have a good, collegial approach to things, and a similar approach to the quality of sound we produce, which comes in part from playing together on nearly a daily basis," said Lind.
While the ensemble doesn't often tour or perform outside the Philadelphia area, coming to Saratoga Springs is like second nature for musicians who spend part of each summer performing during the Philadelphia Orchestra's annual residency at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.
For Lind, Saratoga has become a second home.
His son, Christopher, is a jazz vocalist who graduated from Skidmore in 2005, and his wife, Patricia O'Rourke, moved to Saratoga more than a year ago, and currently sells real estate in the area.
"I get there when I can," Lind said from Philadelphia.
