The Wind Soloists of New York brings together the leading wind players from New York City to perform the major works for winds, including quartets and quintets by Samuel Barber, Jean Francaix and Paul Hindemith, the piano and wind quintets by Mozart, Poulenc and Beethoven, the wind serenades and divertimenti by Mozart and Beethoven, as well as larger scale works such as Dvorak’s Serenade for Winds, Mozart’s Gran Partita and Strauss’s Serenade for Wind Instruments. The members of the Wind Soloists of New York are among the most esteemed wind players in the United States, all with extensive performance histories. They have collectively performed with a wide variety of ensembles such as the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Orchestra of St. Lukes, at the Ravinia, Spoleto, Lucerne, Tanglewood and Marlboro Music Festivals, and at Carnegie Hall and at Lincoln Center. Recent and upcoming concerts include debuts in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC.
For Live on Stage tours, the Wind Soloists of New York will tour with a quartet of flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon.
Elizabeth Mann, flutist
Elizabeth Mann has served as principal flute of the St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble for the past seventeen seasons. She has toured the United States performing the Mozart Flute Concerto under the baton of Andrè Previn; traveled throughout Spain and Japan performing the Brandenburg Concerti with renowned violinist/conductor Jaime Laredo; and was guest artist at the Lochenhaus Festival in Austria under the direction of Gidon Kremer. In 1998, Ms. Mann and Mr. Kremer played the U.S. premiere of the Gubaidalina Concerto for Flute and Violin with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. She has appeared in recital at the Aldeborough Music Festival in England, the Library of Congress and at Carnegie Hall. Other solo performances include concertos with the Boston Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic and the National Chamber Orchestra of Baltimore.
In past seasons, Ms. Mann has played principal flute with the Minnesota Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony, and acting associate principal flute with the Boston Symphony. She performs regularly with the Orpheus Chamber Ensemble, and as principal flute of the Orchestra of St. Luke's, Ms. Mann has been highlighted in many of the concerts. She has received critical acclaim for performances with Samuel Ramey, Joan Sutherland and Victoria de Los Angeles, among others.
Elizabeth Mann began studying flute at age eight. She won the Boston Young Artist Concerto Competition at age 12, performing as soloist with the Boston Symphony. Ms. Mann is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where she was a student of Julius Baker. She can be heard on recordings by CBC Masterworks, Deutsche Grammophon, Angel Records, MusicMasters and New World Records. She, along with Deborah Hoffman, principal harpist of the Metropolitan Opera, has released the CD Reflections: Transcriptions for Flute and Harp.
Thomas Gallant, oboist
Award-winning artist, Thomas Gallant is one of the world’s few virtuoso solo and chamber music performers on the oboe. Mr. Gallant has been praised by the New Yorker magazine as “a player who unites technical mastery with intentness, charm and wit.”
Mr. Gallant is a First Prize Winner of the Concert Artists Guild International New York Competition. His performances have taken him to Avery Fisher Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York City, to Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Chicago, as well as to the Salle Pleyel in Paris, Vienna Konzerthaus in Austria, to the Spoleto Festival in Italy and to the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center. He has appeared as guest soloist with the Kronos Quartet at the Ravinia Festival and has collaborated with flutists Jean-Pierre Rampal and Paula Robison and with many string quartets, including Cuarteto Casals, Cuarteto Latinoamericano, and the Colorado and Lark Quartets. Recent performances include a concert of solo and chamber music works for the oboe at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, and tours across the United States as soloist with Camerata Bariloche from Argentina, performing concerti by Bellini and Vaughan-Williams, as well as performances for the Cleveland Chamber Music Society and recitals for the University of Vermont Lane Series and the Flagler Museum of Art in Palm Beach.
Thomas Gallant is known for his unique performance style, which combines the American and European traditions of oboe playing. He plays on an “Evoluzione” oboe made by the Italian maker Fratelli Patricola.
Jo-Ann Sternberg, clarinetist
Jo-Ann Sternberg lives a varied musical life in New York, currently performing and touring with a wide array of groups, including Sequitur, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Musicians from Marlboro, New York Philomusica and the New York Chamber Ensemble, and several of New York City's leading orchestras, including the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestra of St. Luke's. Her summer festivals have included Marlboro, Tanglewood, Caramoor, Norfolk and Schleswig-Holstein. In addition to performing, Ms Sternberg maintains an active teaching studio, and serves on the faculties of Princeton University, Western Connecticut State University, and the Chamber Music Conference and Composers' Forum of the East. After receiving a B.A. in English from Tufts University and a B.M. in Clarinet Performance from the New England Conservatory, Ms. Sternberg continued her studies at Yale University with David Shifrin and at the Juilliard School with Charles Neidich, receiving an M.M. from Juilliard. In addition to several recordings with Orpheus for Deutsch-Grammophon, Ms. Sternberg's discography includes recordings on the Nonesuch, Troy, CRI, Archetype and St. Cyprien labels.
Cynde Iverson, bassoonist
Cynde Iverson is recognized as one of the finest bassoonists today. She has held the Principal Bassoon Chair of the New Haven Symphony for the past fourteen seasons, as she has continued to perform with many of New York’s most prestigious ensembles, including the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the American Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony and New York City Opera among many others. As a soloist Ms. Iverson recently completed highly successful tours of the US, Europe, Japan, and Southeast Asia with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. In the summer months, she has performed at the Caramoor Music Festival, North Country Chamber Players Festival, Moab Music Festival, Waterloo Music Festival, Summer Music at Harkness, and the Colorado Music Festival. In addition, she has held principal positions with the Rhode Island Philharmonic and the Connecticut Orchestra.
As an advocate for contemporary music, Ms. Iverson has performed and recorded numerous compositions with the chamber ensembles, Continuum and Musical Elements, and has explored the medium of jazz with such artists as Steve Lacy, Anthony Davis and James Newton. Her unique talents were highlighted as a member of the improvisational group, Episteme, which has toured extensively both here and abroad. She has recorded for several commercial labels and most recently she recorded the Ravel Piano Concerto with Orpheus and jazz legend, Herbie Hancock.
Cynde Iverson received her B.M. (cum laude) from Indiana University as a student of Leonard Sharrow and her M.M. (cum laude) from the Juilliard School as a student of Stephen Maxym. Ms. Iverson is on the Faculty at Rutgers University.
Wind Soloists of