ARCADIAN WINDS
Arcadian Winds was founded at Boston University in 1987. Originally a woodwind trio consisting of flute, clarinet, and bassoon, the ensemble expanded to a wind quintet in 1989. Since its formation, Arcadian Winds has premiered almost 50 new works and championed many others. With a strong commitment to education, the group has brought chamber and contemporary music into the public, private and community schools in the Boston Area.
Jan Järvlepp returned to his native Ottawa in 1981 after completing his doctoral studies in composition and 20th-century music at the University of California, San Diego. His composition teachers over the years were Luis de Pablo, Alcides Lanza, Will Ogdon, and Roger Reynolds. Once back, he joined the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra and has been active as a freelance cellist, composer, teacher, recording technician, and as a contractor for chamber music groups. Freed from the restrictions of the university environment, he began composing in a newer style of postmodern music that would not be acceptable among academics. He has been delving deeper and deeper into the world of pop-influenced contemporary “classical” composition. He has completely turned his back on the avant-garde modernism that he was rigorously trained in, in order to concentrate on the emerging neo-tonal style.
In 1996, the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra premiered his percussion ensemble concerto, The Garbage Concerto, to a wildly receptive audience, and that success has now been repeated in many cities around the world. His chamber music has been featured in the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival and in the Music and Beyond Festival, and has been broadcast internationally. Järvlepp’s music has been heard on previous Navona albums including TOMORROW’S AIR (2017), LEGENDS AND LIGHT (2018), and PRISMA 2 (2019). Many of his compositions are available from the American publisher J. W. Pepper, either as digital downloads or in paper form, and from the Canadian Music Centre.
Ferdinando DeSena is a Miami composer born in Brooklyn NY. DeSena teaches composition and electronic music at the New World School of the Arts. He served on the faculty of the University of Miami from 1992 – 2009 and was Director of the Electronic Music Studio. His music has been performed throughout the continental United States and in Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Argentina, Italy, Ireland, and Scotland. De Sena earned a B.A in Computer Music at Ithaca College, a Masters in Electronic Music, and a D.M.A. in Composition at the University of Miami. His principal teachers were Dennis Kam, Peter Rothbart, and Don Wilson.
Composer David MacDonald writes music that is serious and clever, expressing a fondness for groovy rhythms and delightful surprises. He simultaneously embraces and pokes fun at expectations, like smashing the formality of concert traditions through the irreverent firehose of social media.
Growing up as a trumpet player in St. Louis MO, MacDonald attended the University of Missouri, first focusing on performance and only then discovering an interest in composition. He later earned a M.M. and D.M.A. in composition from Michigan State University. His primary composition teachers have been Ricardo Lorenz, W. Thomas McKenney, and Stefan Freund.
MacDonald believes passionately that new music—even pretty weird music—is for everyone, not just the formally trained few, and he loves sharing new music experiences with a wider audience. In 2010, he co-founded SoundNotionTV, a podcast network featuring audio and video shows about music and the arts. He previously served as founder co- Artistic Director of SCENE&heard, a new music concert series at the (SCENE) Metrospace gallery in East Lansing MI.
Today, David lives in Wichita KS, where he teaches music composition, theory, and technology at Wichita State University. Previously, he has taught at the University of Central Florida and served as president of the Central Florida Composers Forum and Director of Digital Media for the Timucua Arts Foundation.
craig peaslee
Twice the recipient of the Milwaukee Artist Resource Network's Music Award (2013 & 2016), Craig Peaslee's music has been described as bold, crass and unapologetic. His compositions can be traditional, multi-faceted, dissonant, genre-bending and have been known to directly confront social and political issues in order to bring attention to such issues as well as get listeners to critically think and discuss the challenges facing the world we live in.
Craig's recent compositions include The Fall of the House of Usher (2019) for chamber orchestra, MIA (Media Informs America) (2019) for two pianos and electronics, 8'66" (2018) for piano, No. 45: The Orange Oaf (2018) for string quartet and electronics, The Whistlin' Dixie Suite (2018) for wind quintet, Lulls and Byes (2018) for chamber ensemble, and Nine Songs from China (2017) a suite for woodwind quintet.
Recent featured performances of his compositions and arrangements have been by Boston's Arcadian Winds, Flight 584 Big Band from Los Angeles, members of the Sheboygan Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee's Brew City Big Band and The Moonlighter's Orchestra.
Craig is currently studying composition while working on a Master of Music Degree at Northern Illinois University (with an anticipated graduation date in December 2019) where he is studying under David Maki and Phillip Sink. His previous studies have been with Dr Mark Mantel, The Academy of Art University, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (where Craig received his baccalaureate in music composition), Roosevelt University and the University of Wisconsin-Sheboygan. Instructors he has studied with include Sahba Aminikia, Reginald Thomas, Jon Welstead, Jon Monhardt, Curt Hanrahan, Keith Carpenter, John Gates, Don Malone and Stacy Garrop.
Being raised in a small community, Craig is impassioned about being able to present new music to smaller communities and areas that do not normally get the opportunity to attend presentations of new and contemporary music. For these reasons, Craig enjoys writing music that is accessible while also sounding new and invigorating.
Kenneth A. Kuhn (Ken) (b. 1954) is an electrical engineer specializing in electronic circuit design who had the privilege of growing up with a great appreciation of classical music. His favorite composers include Anton Bruckner and Gustav Mahler. Over the years, classical music enhanced mental skills valuable for his engineering career. Kuhn found that composing music and designing electronic circuits are very interrelated, and each enhances the other.
He began composing music in his youth in the 1960s and learned how to compose by carefully listening to the many classical composers. Kuhn composes because, as he states, "there is music I want to hear but since no one has written it then I must write it myself." His compositions are of the neo-romantic genre where the music conveys grand concepts that transcend spoken language through rich melody and texture. Kuhn is a member of the Birmingham Art Music Alliance and several of his works for piano and various ensembles have been performed at local concerts.
His retirement plans are to complete many drafts of piano and orchestral works he has accumulated over a lifetime. Kuhn resides in Birmingham AL and shares his house with a number of mischievous but lovable cats who otherwise would not have homes.
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Navona Records offers listeners a fresh taste of today's leading innovators in orchestral, chamber, instrumental, and experimental music as well as prime pieces of classic repertoire. Our music is meticulously performed by the finest musicians and handpicked to ensure the most rewarding listening experience.
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