The 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY), one of New York’s leading cultural venues, presents Imani Winds with Terrence Wilson, piano on Thursday, November 2, 2023 at 7:30 pm at the Kaufmann Concert Hall. Online streaming is also available for 72 hours following the performance. Tickets start at $25 and are available at https://www.92ny.org/event/imani-winds-with-terrence-wilson.
The trailblazing quintet, Imani Winds, was among the first to put a wind ensemble on center stage and has since redefined what its forces perform.
They make their first 92NY appearance with acclaimed pianist Terrence Wilson in a program conceived around rhythm and dance. Repertoire includes Paquito D’Rivera’s take on the Venezuelan joropo, Fleur de Cayenne, Imani hornist Jeff Scott’s arrangement of Piazzolla’s sultry tango Oblivion, Argentine composer Lalo Schifrin’s La Nouvelle Orleans, a jazzy Poulenc work, and a fabulous Brazilian choro from acclaimed film music composer Marcelo Zarvos. The program also includes Louise Farrenc’s Sextet for Piano and Winds – a brilliant showcase for Wilson and Imani in a concert that highlights the unique qualities a wind quintet brings to the chamber music experience.
Paquito D’Rivera, Fleur de Cayenne
Piazzolla, Oblivion (arr. Jeff Scott)
Lalo Schifrin, La Nouvelle Orleans
Poulenc, Sextet for Piano and Winds
Marcelo Zarvos, “Quase Choro” from Changes: Sextet for Winds & Piano
Louise Farrenc, Sextet for Piano and Winds
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Celebrating over a quarter century of music making, the twice GRAMMY nominated Imani Winds has led both a revolution and evolution of the wind quintet through their dynamic playing, adventurous programming, imaginative collaborations and outreach endeavors that have inspired audiences of all ages and backgrounds.
The ensemble’s playlist embraces traditional chamber music repertoire, and newly commissioned works from voices that reflect historical events and the times in which we currently live.
Recent projects include a Jessie Montgomery composition inspired by her great-grandfather’s migration from the American south to the north, socially conscious music by Andy Akiho, reflecting on mass incarceration, and a work by Carlos Simon celebrating iconic figures of the African American community. These works and more have been commissioned as a part of the Legacy Commissioning Project.
Twenty-six seasons of full-time touring has brought Imani Winds to virtually every major chamber music series, performing arts center, and summer festival in the U.S. They regularly perform in prominent venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Kennedy Center and have a presence at festivals such as Chamber Music Northwest, Chautauqua Institution and Banff Centre.
Imani Winds thoughtfully curates unique residencies that include performances, workshops, and masterclasses to thousands of students each year at institutions such as the University of Chicago, Eastman School of Music and Duke University.
Their international presence includes concerts throughout Asia, Brazil, Australia, England, New Zealand and Europe.
Appointed in 2021 as Curtis Institute of Music’s first ever Faculty Wind Quintet, Imani Winds commitment to education runs deep. The highly successful Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival launched in 2010, is an annual summer program devoted to musical excellence and career development for pre-professional instrumentalists and composers. The curriculum includes mentorship, masterclasses, entrepreneurial workshops, community engagement activities and performances, with the goal of fostering the complete musician and global citizen.
In 2019, the group extended their mission even further by creating the non-profit organization, Imani Winds Foundation, which exists to support, connect and uplift their initiatives and more.
Imani Winds’ travels through the jazz world are highlighted by their multi-faceted association with luminary musicians and composers Wayne Shorter, Paquito D’Rivera and Jason Moran. Their ambitious project, “Josephine Baker: A Life of Le Jazz Hot!” featured jazz songstress René Marie in performances that brought the house down in New York, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Los Angeles and St. Louis.
In 2021, Imani Winds released their 9th studio album, “Bruits” on Bright Shiny Things Records, which received a 2022 GRAMMY nomination for “Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance.” Gramophone states, “the ensemble’s hot rapport churns with conviction throughout.”
Imani Winds has recordings on Koch International Classics and E1 Music, including their 2006 GRAMMY nominated recording, “The Classical Underground”. They have also recorded for Naxos and Blue Note and released an acclaimed arrangement of Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” on Warner Classics. They are regularly heard on all media platforms including NPR, American Public Media, the BBC, SiriusXM, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.
To date, one of Imani Winds’ most humbling recognitions is a permanent presence in the classical music section of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC.
Acclaimed by the Baltimore Sun as “one of the biggest pianistic talents to have emerged in this country in the last 25 years,” pianist Terrence Wilson has appeared as soloist with the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Washington, DC (National Symphony), San Francisco, St. Louis, and with the orchestras of Cleveland, Minnesota, and Philadelphia and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Conductors with whom he has worked include Christoph Eschenbach, Alan Gilbert, Neeme Järvi, Jesús López-Cobos, Lawrence Renes, Robert Spano, Yuri Temirkanov, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Gunther Herbig and Michael Morgan.
Abroad, Terrence Wilson has played concerti with such ensembles as the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra in Switzerland, the Malaysian Philharmonic, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and the Orquestra Sinfonica do Estado de Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. He has toured with orchestras in the US and abroad, including a tour of the US with the Sofia Festival Orchestra (Bulgaria) and in Europe with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Yuri Temirkanov.
An active recitalist, Terrence Wilson made his New York City recital debut at the 92nd Street Y, and his Washington, DC recital debut at the Kennedy Center. In Europe he has given recitals at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, the Lourvre in Paris, and countless other major venues. In the US he has given recitals at Lincoln Center in New York City (both Alice Tully Hall and Avery Fisher Hall), the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, the Caramoor Festival in Katonah, NY, San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, and for the La Jolla Chamber Music Society. An avid chamber musician, he performs regularly with the Ritz Chamber Players. Festival appearances include the Blossom Festival, Tanglewood, Wolf Trap, with the San Francisco Symphony at Stern Grove Park, and an appearance with the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra on July 4, 2015 before an audience of over fifteen thousand.
During the 2021-2022 season Wilson returned as soloist with the Alabama and Nashville Symphony Orchestras. He also made his debut with the Roanoke Symphony and returned to the Boulder Philharmonic. In the fall, the Chamber Music Society of Detroit presented Wilson with the Escher Quartet performing Brahms’ Piano Quintet in F minor. He also appeared at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in April 2022 performing music by Julius Eastman and Clarence Barlow. In May 2021, Wilson performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21, K.467 with the New Jersey Symphony, of which a video was produced and is available for viewing on YOUTUBE.
In the summer of 2022, Wilson appeared as a guest of the Aspen Music Festival, performing with the Aspen Chamber Symphony and Robert Spano. He returned for chamber music performances at the St. Augustine Music Festival in August, and made his debut on the Maverick Concert Series in Woodstock, NY. Wilson also returned as piano faculty at the Brevard Music Center in Western North Carolina, and had a teaching residency at Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute. In the 2022-2023 season, Wilson has numerous engagements as soloist with such orchestras as the Pasadena and Stockton Symphonies in California. He also performs recitals in Boston and Kansas City.
Terrence Wilson has received numerous awards and prizes, including the SONY ES Award for Musical Excellence, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and the Juilliard Petschek Award. He has also been featured on several radio and television broadcasts, including NPR’s “Performance Today,” WQXR radio in New York, and programs on the BRAVO Network, the Arts & Entertainment Network, public television, and as a guest on late night network television. In 2011, Wilson was nominated for a Grammy in the category of “Best Instrumental Soloist With an Orchestra” for his (world premiere) recording with the Nashville Symphony conducted by Giancarlo Guerrero of Michael Daugherty’s Deus ex Machina for piano and orchestra – written for Wilson in 2007.
Terrence Wilson is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where he studied with Yoheved Kaplinsky. He has also enjoyed the invaluable mentorship of the Romanian pianist and teacher Zitta Zohar. A native of the Bronx, he resides in Montclair, New Jersey. In March 2021, Wilson was appointed to the piano faculty at Bard College Conservatory of Music.
2023/24 Tisch Music Season
Working within 92NY’s 150th Anniversary theme, Inspired by the Past, Transforming for the Future, 92NY’s Vice President, Tisch Music’s Amy Lam has curated a season featuring newly commissioned works and premieres and artist-driven programs that reference the history of 92NY, the artists themselves, and music more broadly. Some of the featured works at 92NY include the world premiere of a new, interdisciplinary project by Cécile McLorin Salvant, in which Salvant mines her classical music training to transform Baroque songs through a jazz-focused lens, the New York premiere of Damien Geter’s COTTON, which explores an African American narrative of past and present performed by Denyce Graves and Justin Austin, and a new program from Broadway legend Audra McDonald, who takes the stage with a program inspired by her Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award-winning 30-year career.
Building on the theme of transformation, 11 of this season’s 42 concerts will be presented in 92NY’s newly renovated and creatively flexible Buttenwieser Hall at The Arnhold Center. In its Buttenwieser Hall programs, Tisch Music will continue to expand on-site audience engagement in new and exciting ways. As it continues to build its global audience (having secured approximately 5 million views from 200 countries and all 50 states for its original programming across the institution last year), 92NY will maintain its commitment to making its offerings available globally, with more than 20 events available for streaming and on-demand viewing.
The 2023/24 Tisch Music Season builds on the recent success of its Midsummer MusicFest, launched this year in celebration of 92NY’s 150th Anniversary. Consistent with 92NY’s anniversary theme, the annual Festival will look back on 92NY’s musical history, with 2023’s festival inspired by 92NY’s role in bringing jazz from small clubs to a concert hall setting. The Season also continues the evolution of Tisch Music’s flagship Lyrics & Lyricists series, doubling the American Songbook offerings and focusing on the genre as defined, not only by Broadway, but in the many genres of American music found across the country.
Highlights of the 2023/24 Tisch Music Season include:
- Joshua Redman Group release concert of where are we featuring Gabrielle Cavassa
- NY premieres of new work by Tyshawn Sorey and COTTON by composer Damien Geter
- New York concert debuts of the Isidore String Quartet and pianist Tony Siqi Yun
- Pianist Conrad Tao returns to 92NY as part of the global celebration of Rachmaninoff at 150
- Ongoing partnerships continue with concerts from the Curtis Institute of Music, the New York Philharmonic, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra with special guest artists
- Art of the Guitar Series with Beijing Guitar Duo, David Russell and Manuel Barrueco
- 2023/24 Lyrics & Lyricists series celebrating Howard Ashman, Laura Nyro, Stevie Wonder, and Sheldon Harnick in a special event led by Ted Sperling honoring the legacy of three-time Tony Award winner and Broadway legend, Jason Robert Brown, featuring a one-night-only appearance.
- Expanded American Songbook offerings including exclusive concerts by Audra McDonald, Joshua Henry and Stephanie J. Block
For more information, please visit 92NY.org/Concerts.
