Integrating Chamber Music Techniques Into Your Large Ensembles
Clinic Synopsis:
Professional woodwind quintet Pure Winds will present a live demonstration workshop covering chamber music rehearsal techniques. Topics will include intonation, technical fluency, and ensemble precision, as well as how directors can implement these tools into their large ensemble preparation.
Pure Winds
- Biographical Information
Pure Winds is an award-winning woodwind quintet based in Lansing, Michigan that promotes outside-of-the-concert-hall musical experiences. The group engages audiences of all ages through residencies, masterclasses, and performances. Pure Winds consistently brings music to non-traditional venues and strives to create conversations between performers and audiences. Recent engagements have included concerts and clinics at the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg KY, University of Michigan - Flint, a week-long tour throughout western Montana, as well as being the featured guest artist for the “Chamber Music Montana” series at the University of Montana. The group creates balanced concerts for audiences by bringing a fresh perspective to standard quintet repertoire while performing new music. Members of the ensemble have performed, taught, and placed in competitions across the U.S. and internationally.
Colton Wansitler - Biographical Information
Colton Wansitler is working as a freelance musician throughout Michigan. He has performed with many symphonies such as the Chautauqua Symphony, Jackson Symphony, Lansing Symphony, West Michigan Symphony, Canton Symphony, and the Oregon Symphony Orchestra. He has appeared as a soloist at the Chautauqua Institute and played with the Chautauqua Summer Music Festival Orchestra during the summers of 2015, 2014, and 2013. Additionally, he has performed on the Music at St. Paul’s Concert Series in 2014 and 2012. He was the winner of the University of Michigan - Flint Concerto Competition, which led to solo performances with the Wind Symphony in 2012 and 2011.
Colton is currently working towards his Doctorate of Musical Arts at Michigan State University, where he plays with the MSU Symphony Orchestra, and the MSU Wind Symphony. With the MSU Wind Symphony, Colton performed at The Midwest Clinic: An International Band and Orchestra Conference in 2013. Additionally, in 2014 the MSU Wind Symphony went on a tour through the Midwest which led him to play at Carnegie Hall.
Colton received his Bachelors from the University of Michigan - Flint in 2012, where he studied with Dr. Jessica Cech. He later received his Masters of Music in Flute Performance from Michigan State University in 2014, where he currently studies with Richard Sherman. He has also studied with Sharon Sparrow and Ervin Monroe.
Natalie Law - Biographical Information
Natalie Law is an active bassoonist and educator based in Mid-Michigan. As an orchestral musician, she has most recently performed with the Lansing Symphony, West Michigan Symphony and Rochester (MI) Symphony. In the summer of 2019, Natalie was a performance fellow at the Colorado College Summer Music Festival in Colorado Springs, CO. Prior to moving to Michigan, she held numerous orchestral positions across the state of Montana, including second bassoonist for the Missoula, Helena, and Glacier Symphonies. As a member of the Pure Winds quintet, she has performed as a guest artist and clinician at multiple institutions and venues across the United States. In 2016, Natalie won the Montana MTNA Young Artist Competition. She was also a finalist in the Montana Association of Symphony Orchestras Competition for two consecutive years.
As an avid educator, Natalie is particularly interested in beginning bassoon pedagogy and is the bassoon instructor at Oakview Middle School and Scripps Middle School in Lake Orion, MI. She is currently pursuing her Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in bassoon performance at Michigan State University. She completed her undergraduate degrees in performance and music education at the University of Montana and her master's degree at Michigan State. Her primary teachers have included Michael Kroth, Dorian Antipa, Elizabeth Ball Crawford, and Jennifer Cavanaugh.
Dominic Hayes - Biographical Information
Horn player Dominic Hayes performs a blend of classical and modern music as a soloist and collaboratively across the United States. He has performed with ensembles including the Moscow Ballet, Toledo Symphony Orchestra, Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, and the Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra. He is currently a member of the Dearborn Symphony Orchestra and the Pure Winds Wind Quintet. As a soloist, he seeks to perform not only classical repertoire, but also new and contemporary works that blend live music, electronics, and improvisation. He premiered Principle of Enclosures for Horn, Trumpet and Triggered Fixed Media by Evan Leffert at the CHIME Festival at the University of Chicago. There he performed alongside artists including Daniel Pesca and the Spektral Quartet. He was a soloist at the Society of Composers Inc. National Conference where he performed Thermal Bloom by Jason Mitchell for Horn and Fixed Media. He was a three-time scholarship winner to attend the Kendall Betts Horn Camp in Lyman, New Hampshire. There he studied under some of the best horn performers and collegiate faculty in the world. Dominic earned his Bachelors Degree in Horn Performance from Western Michigan University under Dr. Lin Foulk-Baird, and is currently studying at the University of Michigan with Adam Unsworth and Brian Kennedy for his M.M. Degree in Horn Performance. Dominic currently resides in Clinton, Michigan.
Nick Schumacher - Biographical Information
Nick Schumacher is currently working toward his DMA in Clarinet Performance and Master's in Theory at Michigan State University. He received his Bachelor of Music Performance Degree from the University of Northern Iowa. Nick’s performing career has given him the opportunity to perform in wind ensembles, orchestras, and a diverse array of chamber groups.
In 2016, Nick was the winner of the University of Northern Iowa Performance Competition and was a three-time featured soloist with the Northern Iowa Wind Symphony. He is a National Presser Scholar and is an active member of the Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society. His principal teachers include Elsa Ludewig-Verdehr, Guy Yehuda, and Amanda McCandless; he has also worked in masterclasses with many other professional clarinetists, including Michael Lowenstern, Wonkak Kim, and David Krakauer. In addition to performing, Nick has a variety of musical interests ranging from composition and music theory to clarinet pedagogy.
Andrea Silverio - Biographical Information
Andrea Silverio, a native of Brazil, has performed in Brazil's main concert halls and acquired a vast experience playing in orchestras since the age of 17. Ms. Silverio has won several competitions throughout her career including first place in the Sao Paulo Chamber Music Competition, second place in the MTNA Competition, and one of the winners in the USM Band Concerto Competition where she had the opportunity to perform the virtuosic Pasculli's "La Favorite." Andrea holds a bachelor degree in oboe performance from The University of Southern Mississippi. She pursued a masters degree at Louisiana State University under the guidance of Johanna Cox Pennington. Currently, she is pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Michigan State University and is a student of Jan Eberle.
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