Logan Canyon Winds Quintet Announces Fall Recital

LOGAN, Utah — Logan Canyon Winds, the faculty wind quintet at Utah State University, will present a fall recital featuring works by Robert Muczynski, Francis Poulenc, Carl Nielsen and Dmitri Shostakovich. The concert will take place Nov. 17 at 5 p.m. in the Russell/Wanlass Performance Hall.

The quintet is comprised of Jeiran Hasan on flute, Marilyn Cole on oboe, Thiago Ancelmo on clarinet, Joel Ockerman on horn, and Leon Chodos on bassoon.

This recital gives audiences a chance to hear from a wind quintet performing chamber music.

“String quartets and brass quintets are both comprised of ensembles of instruments that, when combined, create naturally homogeneous and beautiful sonorities,” said French Horn Professor Joel Ockerman. “In contrast is the wind quintet, where five quite distinct instruments come together to establish a sense of balance and fit each of their unique tone colors into a singular ensemble sound. It can be a beautiful and impressive sound, but it can be a challenging ensemble to fit into.”

As the faculty woodwind quintet at Utah State, Ockerman said, they decided to present music that showcases the sonority of the wind quintet and built this recital around two masterworks of the repertoire: the Sextet for Piano and Winds by Francis Poulenc, and the quintet by Carl Nielsen.

“Poulenc’s music combines a sarcastic sense of humor and a flair for the dramatic, all underpinned with a neoclassical style that is reminiscent of Mozart and Haydn,” Ockerman said. “The quintet by Nielsen quickly followed as a piece we wanted to program. He features each instrument in their own soloistic moments, reflecting the diverse personalities of the quintet members, ranging from very solemn and serious to neurotic and silly.”

The sense of humor in these pieces also inspired the quintet to program the transcription of the polka from Dmitri Shostakovich’s ballet “The Golden Age.”

The quintet will also perform an excellently crafted quintet by Robert Muczynski.

“Sometimes classical music has a reputation as being overly self-serious, and it’s great to present a program like this where there is undoubtedly serious music-making throughout, but also some humor thrown in for a good balance,” Ockerman said.

Guest artist and pianist Amy Glenn will be joining the quintet for this recital. Glenn is one of the faculty associates teaching piano at USU and has extensive experience accompanying singers and serving as an opera coach with numerous opera companies across North America, according to Ockerman.

“Amy’s experience with opera makes her a suitable partner to collaborate with, and we are fortunate in this program to showcase her command of contrasting musical moods, along with the considerable pianistic skill the part demands,” he said.

The concert is free and open to the public with no ticket required. The concert will also be livestreamed on the CCA Youtube channel. For more information, visit the online event calendar.