Presented by The Renaissance City Winds, of Pittsburgh
The Renaissance City Winds revive their collaboration with theater artist Mark Conway Thompson in two performances at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater in East Liberty.  Two brand-new works with music by Eric Satie and Winds composer/bassoonist R. James Whipple partner with a revival of Mozart’s pantomime Les petits riens, all to choreography by Mark Thompson. Saturday performance at 8pm; Sunday matinee at 4pm.

---

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Varying in instrumentation and size from 3-10 musicians, the Renaissance City Winds is named after Pittsburgh’s nickname and dedicates itself to performing and recording the finest music for wind instruments. It has become one of Pennsylvania’s foremost chamber ensembles since its founding in 1975.  RCW has released CDs on the Elan and Centaur labels; been broadcast on television and public radio; and toured throughout the East with appearances at Carnegie Hall (NY), the Kennedy Center (DC), Blossom Music Festival, and the Pennsylvania Governor’s Residence. Originally a Pittsburgh woodwind quintet, the “Renaissance City Woodwind Quintet,” the group increased its collaborations with guest artists and the frequent performance of octets and decets – most concerts used more than five players – and the ensemble officially expanded and shortened its name in 1988.

While it performs music from the sixteenth century to the present, the group has received special recognition for its devotion to American music. It has commissioned many works from contemporary composers, and performed older treasures it has researched from the Library of Congress, the Harmonists, and the Moravian collection.  In 2001 it won one of MEET THE COMPOSER’s community residency grants, one of only four awarded nation-wide that year.

The ensemble has captured nationally-competitive awards and grants from Chamber Music America, the National Endowment for the Arts, MEET THE COMPOSER (now merged into New Music America), the Alice M. Ditson Fund, and the Aaron Copland Fund for Music.