VENTUS MACHINA

• Bernstein: Suite from West Side Story - II. Maria

“Ventus Machina plays with good energy and technique, and the recital has some nice moments... The Scribner and Price arrangements are marvelously scored and worth discovering.”

Hanudel, American Record Guide [May/June 2018]

“This is an engaging – and engagingly played – programme of mostly unfamiliar music... Ventus Machina have a foot in jazz and popular music, genre experience that serves them well... Richard Price's1989 arrangement of four songs from West Side Story makes a pleasant encore.”

Guy Rickards, Gramophone [April 2018]

“...offerings that nicely show off the ensemble members’ abilities and provide the players with opportunities to showcase their performance skill both individually and together... Ventus Machina handles everything with panache and suitable enthusiasm... enjoyable for listeners looking for a collection of rather light material handled by a skillful wind ensemble.”

Mark J. Estren, InfoDad [January 2018]

CLICK HERE to see a performance of Kutnowski's TONADAS Y MATEADAS.

In the Weeds has been nominated for the "Classical Recording of the Year" award, and Kutnowski's Tonadas y Mateadas for the classical composition of the year award, at Canada's ECMAs (East Coast Music Awards).

The Ventus Machina woodwind quintet was formed in 2011 and is based in New Brunswick, Canada. Our flexible and unique style of performance is focused on themed programs that at once engage, entertain, and educate our diverse audiences. Classically based, we make regular excursions into other genres, including jazz, opera, Latin and pop, challenging ourselves and surprising our audiences. Through educational outreach performances and workshops in both French and English, we reach thousands of New Brunswick students each year. This CD is our first full length recording, and we are very pleased to present two new works written for us by outstanding composers: Mike Titlebaum’s Short Set and Martin Kutnowski’s Tonadas y Mateadas. We hope that these will both find the place they deserve among the quintet standards. We also present two wonderful arrangements: four songs from Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story and William Scribner’s lovely setting of Astor Piazzolla’s Milonga sin Palabras. To round out the program, we offer you one of our absolute favorites from the quintet repertoire – Paquito D’Rivera’s Aires Tropicales. - Enjoy!
 
Le quintette à vent Ventus Machina a été fondé en 2011 et est basé au Nouveau-Brunswick, Canada. Notre approche flexible et unique, centrée autour de programmes thématiques engageants, divertissants et éducatifs, continue d’attirer et de réjouir nos auditeurs. De formation classique, nous explorons souvent des genres différents tels que le jazz, l’opéra, la musique latine ou même populaire, nous mettant au défi et surprenant le public. Par l’entremise de nos concerts éducatifs et ateliers instrumentaux tant en français qu’en anglais, nous rejoignons des milliers d’élèves à chaque année. Cet album est notre premier album complet et nous sommes heureux d’y présenter deux oeuvres composées pour nous par de remarquables compositeurs, Short Set, de Mike Titlebaum, et Tonadas y Mateadas, de Martin Kutnowski. Nous espérons que ces oeuvres sauront trouver leur place au sein des standards pour quintette à vent. Aux côtés de ces deux créations, nous présentons deux arrangements remarquables, quatre chansons extraites de West Side Story, de Leonard Bernstein, ainsi que l’arrangement de William Scribner de Milonga sin Palabras, d’Astor Piazzolla. Pour terminer le tout, nous vous offrons l’une de nos pièces favorites du répertoire pour quintette, Aires Tropicales de Paquito D’Rivera. - Bonne écoute!
 
 
Flutist Karin Aurell is originally from Sweden, where she spent nearly 20 years as a full-time symphony orchestra musician. She moved to Sackville, New Brunswick, in 2001, and has enjoyed life as a freelance musician in the Maritimes ever since. She loves recording, and has three previous solo and chamber CDs to her name: Nightingales for Katy for solo flute, Trio Arkaède’s self-titled first album, and the trio’s Tour de France. Since Aurell’s arrival in Atlantic Canada, she has played with all of the professional orchestras in the region, and is a regular member of the Charlottetown Festival Orchestra each summer. She is an active chamber music performer, mainly as a member of Ventus Machina, but also with the New Brunswick new music collective Motion Ensemble and Trio Arkaède, together with Isabelle Fournier and Julien LeBlanc. Aurell teaches flute at l’Université de Moncton and Mount Allison University, and is the coach for the flute section of the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra.
 
Christie Goodwin is currently acting principal oboist and has been a core member of Symphony New Brunswick since 2011. She held the position of principal oboist of the Niagara Symphony until 2012, and has previously held principal and section-leader positions with the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Orchestra and Korean Canadian Symphony Orchestra. Goodwin has been featured with orchestras both as an oboe and English horn soloist on multiple occasions, and has appeared as a freelance musician in ensembles throughout Southern Ontario and the Maritimes. Originally from small-town Alberta, Goodwin completed her Bachelor of Music degree at the University of British Columbia and the Artist’s Diploma program at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory. She teaches oboe at the University of Moncton, has taught courses and guest-lectured at Mount Allison University and teaches private lessons from her home studio in Dieppe. Goodwin also acts as coordinator, administrator and project manager for Ventus Machina.
 
James Kalyn has built a career over the past 25 years as a soloist and orchestral musician of the highest caliber on both clarinet and saxophone. An Associate Professor at Mount Allison University, Kalyn can be heard performing regularly in the region as clarinetist with Ventus Machina and Symphony New Brunswick, on saxophone with the Brogue Quartet, and in recitals. Kalyn has been a clarinetist with numerous professional orchestras, including those of Winston-Salem and Greensboro, North Carolina, in the United States, and the Windsor Symphony and Orchestra London in Canada. As a concert saxophonist, he has performed throughout the United States and Canada, as well as in Argentina, China and Japan. He is called to play and tour with The Cleveland Orchestra and is heard on several solo and chamber music recordings. His solo recordings include 6 Standard Saxophone Sonatas, Brillance and Glazunov Concerto. Kalyn holds a doctorate from the Eastman School of Music.
 
Ulises Aragon currently holds the position of principal French horn with Symphony New Brunswick, and was the first horn and lead partner in the Simón Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Caracas, Venezuela, from 1989 to 2012. A sought-after soloist, Aragon has appeared with the major symphony orchestras across Venezuela, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Ecuador, and most recently with Symphony New Brunswick. An active chamber musician, Aragon has most notably been a member of Quintet Inocente Carreño, Wind Octet Simón Bolivar, Venezuela Brass Ensemble and Ensemble Horns Aragon, performing with these groups and others in theaters throughout Venezuela, Latin America and Europe. Aragon holds diplomas from the University Institute of Musical Studies (IUDEM), the Conservatory of Music Simón Bolivar, the Mozarteum Venezuela, and the Hochschule fur Musik und Theater Hannover in Germany.
 
Patrick Bolduc is the principal bassoonist of Symphony New Brunswick, and a founding member of Ventus Machina. Previously, he was the principal bassoonist of both L’Orchestre Symphonique de Trois-Rivières (2003-2007) and the Niagara Symphony (2007-2012). After studying at the Conservatoire de musique de Québec, Bolduc continued his studies in Toronto at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory. He has travelled throughout the United States, Canada, France and Japan. He has played as a freelance musician with L’Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, L’Orchestre de la Francophonie Canadienne, and L’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, among others. A native of Québec, Bolduc is based in New Brunswick, where he performs with Ventus Machina and Symphony New Brunswick and serves on the faculty of l’Université de Moncton. MIKE TITLEBAUM (b.1968)
SHORT SET (2016)
(COMMISSIONED BY / COMMANDE DE VENTUS MACHINA)
I. Amblin’
II. A-Fashin’
III. In the Weeds

PAQUITO D’RIVERA (b.1948)
AIRES TROPICALES (1994)
I. Alborada
II. Son
III. Habanera
IV. Vals Venezolano
V. Dizzyness
VI. Contradanza
VII. Afro

ASTOR PIAZZOLLA (1921-1992) | Arr. William Scribner
MILONGA SIN PALABRAS (1981)

MARTIN KUTNOWSKI (b.1968)
(COMMISSIONED BY / COMMANDE DE VENTUS MACHINA)
TONADAS Y MATEADAS (2015)

LEONARD BERNSTEIN (1918-1990) | Arr. Richard Price
SUITE FROM WEST SIDE STORY (1957 / 1989)
I. I Feel Pretty / Tonight
II. Maria
III. America
 



MSR Classics