The Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival is now in its fourth year. What started out as an ambitious idea has grown into a successful institute and chamber music happening in the heart of New York City. Sitting in the audience at the Festival and watching Paquito D’ Rivera spontaneously pick up his clarinet and exchange fours with one of our fabulous pianists was an extreme highlight. The excitement in the room was almost a thing you could touch and we exchanged looks that said: “We are really contributing to the cultural fabric of Lincoln Center with this incredible idea of ours!” In that moment we of course felt proud, but what also surfaced was the responsibility of making sure every year we learn how to make things even better.
What a difference a year makes. The most ambitious change to IWCMF is the addition of composers to our student roster. The Emerging Composers Program (ECP) was added with the intent to garner a major change in the next generation of chamber music. Master classes by guest composition gurus such as Mohammed Fairouz and Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR). These gifted composers were mentored, promoted and coached by Imani Winds, and their compositions were performed throughout the Festival.
The distinguished panel of guest artists has grew again this year with instrumental icons such as Stanley Drucker, Carol Wincenc and Frank Morelli and clinicians/panelists of the ilk of conductor Cliff Colnot and Edna Landau. Manhattan Brass performed and Imani Winds’ own Jeff Scott showcased his compositions in a special night of music-making with students of the Festival and top musicians from around New York.
Imani Winds rejoices in the dichotomy between earthiness and the transcendent that is chamber music, and IWCMF celebrates and hopefully enhances this synthesis. We invite you to come along with us!
-IMANI WINDS
