Photo: UWM Peck School of the Arts
Cosmo Reed Quintet
The Cosmo Reed Quintet
UW-Milwaukee’s Cosmo Reed Quintet will premiere work by UWM composers Barbara Howe, Gavin Roberts, Adam Taylor, Ben Piette, Eli Drews, and Clark Hudec in concert this week at UWM’s Fine Arts Recital Hall.
The Cosmo Quintet is comprised of Samantha Carr (oboe), Catherine Dyer (saxophone), Rosalie Avery (bassoon), Jena Nahnsen (bass clarinet) and Lauren LaFond (clarinet).. This quintet was formed by UWM Peck School of the Arts saxophone professor Nicki Roman in 2021.
Reed quintets started to gain traction after a group of Dutch musicians formed the Calefax Reed Quintet 25 years ago. A saxophone and bass clarinet are usually substituted for the flute and horn of the traditional woodwind quintet. The dynamics are extended and, enhanced techniques can be used such as circular breathing and tongue slapping. New compositions often free the quintet from classical constraints. The result is a unique and exciting new sound.
Woodwinds have a wide range of tones and timbres across their respective ranges. Since there is a limited repertoire of music already written for these small chamber groups, I asked Avery if the pieces being premiered were written especially for them or if other woodwind pieces are easily transcribable.
I was surprised to learn that all the pieces on Wednesday’s program are new, written for them by composition students at UWM. The compositions were then given a reading by the quintet with an exchange of ideas and suggestions. And then revision, more rehearsals and another “huddle” of musicians and composers.
We discussed transcriptions of other chamber music for a reed quintet. There are some but often the result may not play to the unique strengths and sounds of the reeds while losing what may have been unique with the original score. Within the last decade more music has been written for the reed quintet, much of it modern, making use of the timbres and tonalities unique to this group of instruments.
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The quintet consists of musicians from Michigan, Iowa, West Virginia, and Wisconsin attracted to UWM by the excellence of its studio professors. The Cosmo Reed Quintet will continue to offer concerts and play gigs in Milwaukee and further afield with a replacement for Nahnsen who is graduating and committed to a new job. The Quintet will play at a conference in Colorado in July.
Earning a living as a (new) musician is difficult. There are few seats available in orchestras, many sections remain predominantly male. While this is discouraging, Avery feels progress is being made and conditions are much better now than they were 10 years ago. But for those in her group, it will mean teaching and hopefully supplementary income from concerts and gigs. They will continue to perform and enter competitions.
I’ve heard the quintet several times. They have a wonderful tone and the concert promises to be exciting and rewarding. If you’ve never heard this combination of instruments before, this is a unique opportunity to hear the wonderful tones and timbres in an acoustically ideal space—the Fine Arts Recital Hall at UWM.
Further information can be found on UWM’s concert website:
https://uwm.edu/arts/events/category/music/
The Concert is 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 13 in the UWM Fine Arts Recital Hall.
