Imani Winds + BodyVox:
Beautiful Everything
The dynamic, 2024 Grammy Award-winning Imani Winds return to collaborate with Portland’s own BodyVox on our latest chamber music and dance creation! Beautiful Everything will be an extraordinary evening of inspiring music and innovative dance celebrating beauty, hope, optimism, and joy. The Imani Winds will perform the West Coast Premiere of Shawn E. Okpebholo’s Rise for Wind Quintet, a CMNW co-commission. Sure to draw crowds, don’t miss this entertaining fusion of music and motion at the glorious Patricia Reser Center for the Arts!
OPTIMISM IN MOTION: Find it. Live it. Share it.
Co-presented with BodyVox. Choreography by Jamey Hampton and Ashley Roland.
The April 21 concert is co-sponsored by Patricia Morris-Rader & Bob Cogan
Join us April 19 & 20 for Prelude Performances in the lobby from 6:30-7 pm! These performances will feature local, young musicians and dancers from BodyVox’s Junior Artist Generator (JAG) Company.
Beautiful Everything runs approximately 100 minutes, including a 20 minute intermission.
Celebrating over a quarter century of music making, the Grammy Award-winning Imani Winds has led both a revolution and evolution of the wind quintet through their dynamic playing, adventurous programming, imaginative collaborations, and outreach endeavors that have inspired audiences of all ages and backgrounds.
“For most dancers, the laws of physics are restrictions to be observed. For BodyVox, they are inconveniences to be ignored. With mischievous glee, the contemporary dance company defies the boundaries of flexibility and gravity, pushing its dancers to kinetic heights that sometimes look triumphantly impossible.”
— Oregon ArtsWatch
Patricia Reser Center for the Arts
Friday, 4/19 • 7:30 pm PT
Saturday, 4/20 • 2:00 pm PT
Saturday, 4/20 • 7:30 pm PT
Sunday, 4/21 • 4:00 pm PT
Program
Click on any piece of music below to learn more about it.
- SHAWN E. OKPEBHOLO “Rise” for Wind Quintet (2023)
Shawn E. Okpebholo Rise for Wind Quintet (2023)
I. Seeds
II. Deep Harmony
III. Spark!Rise, a composition for a wind quintet, serves as a musical narrative that highlights the enduring issue of racial injustice. Comprising three distinct movements, this piece engages the listener in an intentional exploration of social consciousness. It underscores the importance of sowing seeds of justice and hope, a yearning for deep-rooted and lasting harmony, and a call to let our inner light pursue justice.
Movement I: Seeds | In this dynamic opening movement, the wind quintet engages in an earnest dialogue, symbolizing the urgency and desire to sow the seeds of change in hopes that the harvest would consist of transformed hearts. The musical interplay at times takes on an aggressive tone, representing our determination and agency in addressing injustice.
Movement II: Deep Harmony | This movement explores rich harmonies, creating a soundscape that envisions a world where unity among people of all backgrounds is not only commonplace but fervently embraced. Amid these harmonies, a sweet melody, a poignant song without words, weaves through, encapsulates the longing for grace and peace, celebrating the profound beauty found in embracing our differences and living in harmony.
Movement III: Spark! | The idea that a single spark can cause a lasting flame serves as the inspiration for this movement. This spirited movement serves as a call to action. The early 20th-century African American song This Little Light of Mine is abstractly referenced in this movement, musically igniting the notion that our actions, no matter how small, can affect meaningful change.West Coast Premiere
This work was generously supported and commissioned by a remarkable consortium of wind quintets and arts associations, including: Linton Chamber Music, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Chamber Music Northwest, Phoenix Chamber Music Society, Adelante Winds, The Black Student Union of the Cleveland Institute of Music, Imani Winds, and New York Wind Quintet.
Artists
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Imani Winds
Wind Quintet
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Brandon Patrick George, flute
Toyin Spellman-Diaz, oboe
Kevin Newton, French horn
Mark Dover, clarinet
Monica Ellis, bassoonImani Winds is the 2024 Grammy winner in the Classical Compendium category for Jeff Scott’s Passion for Bach and Coltrane released on their recently formed record label, Imani Winds Media.
Celebrating over a quarter century of music-making, the three time Grammy-nominated group has led both a revolution and evolution of the wind quintet through their dynamic playing, adventurous programming, imaginative collaborations, and outreach endeavors that have inspired audiences of all ages and backgrounds.
The ensemble’s playlist embraces traditional chamber music repertoire, and newly commissioned works from voices that reflect historical events and the times in which we currently live.
Recent projects include a Jessie Montgomery composition inspired by her great-grandfather’s migration from the American south to the north, socially conscious music by Andy Akiho reflecting on mass incarceration, and a work by Carlos Simon celebrating iconic figures of the African American community. These works and more have been commissioned as a part of the Legacy Commissioning Project.
Twenty-six seasons of full-time touring has brought Imani Winds to virtually every major chamber music series, performing arts center, and summer festival in the U.S. They regularly perform in prominent venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Kennedy Center, and have a presence at festivals such as Chamber Music Northwest, Chautauqua Institution, and Banff Centre.
Imani Winds thoughtfully curates unique residencies that include performances, workshops, and masterclasses to thousands of students each year at institutions such as the University of Chicago, Eastman School of Music, and Duke University.
Their international presence includes concerts throughout Asia, Brazil, Australia, England, New Zealand, and Europe.
Appointed in 2021 as Curtis Institute of Music’s first-ever Faculty Wind Quintet, Imani Winds’ commitment to education runs deep. The highly successful Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival, launched in 2010, is an annual summer program devoted to musical excellence and career development for pre-professional instrumentalists and composers. The curriculum includes mentorship, masterclasses, entrepreneurial workshops, community engagement activities, and performances, with the goal of fostering the complete musician and global citizen.
In 2019, the group extended their mission even further by creating the non-profit organization, Imani Winds Foundation, which exists to support, connect, and uplift their initiatives, and more.
Imani Winds’ travels through the jazz world are highlighted by their multifaceted association with luminary musicians and composers Wayne Shorter, Paquito D’Rivera, and Jason Moran. Their ambitious project, Josephine Baker: A Life of Le Jazz Hot! featured jazz songstress René Marie in performances that brought the house down in New York, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and St. Louis.
In 2021, Imani Winds released their 9th studio album, Bruits, on Bright Shiny Things Records, which received a 2022 Grammy nomination for “Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance.” Gramophone states, “the ensemble’s hot rapport churns with conviction throughout.”
Imani Winds has recordings on Koch International Classics and E1 Music, including their 2006 Grammy-nominated recording, The Classical Underground. They have also recorded for Naxos and Blue Note, and released an acclaimed arrangement of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring on Warner Classics. They are regularly heard on all media platforms including NPR, American Public Media, the BBC, SiriusXM, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
To date, one of Imani Winds’ most humbling recognitions is a permanent presence in the classical music section of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC.
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BodyVox
Dance Company
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Led by Emmy Award-winning choreographers Jamey Hampton and Ashley Roland, BodyVox is known for its visual virtuosity, distinctive wit and unique ability to combine dance, theater and film into breathtaking productions rich in imagery, athleticism and humor. Since its founding in 1997, BodyVox has toured to critical acclaim on stages around the world, developed 9 award-winning films, 30 original shows, and 3 operas, featuring more than 200 original dances.
Based in Portland, Oregon, BodyVox’s movement surges from a fascination with the endless possibilities of the human body in motion, informed by years of cross-training and layers of experience. Hampton and Roland are distinguished artists on the world stage, formed by their years working as creators and performers with innovative dance companies Momix, ISO Dance, and Pilobolus. BodyVox builds upon this tradition of excellence with a unique voice that is equally influenced by its Northwest roots and world view.
Adding to its full-evening shows and repertory pieces, BodyVox’s films have won numerous awards in national and international festivals. “Modern Daydreams” – composed of “Treadmill Softly,” “Islands in the Sky,“ Unleashed” and “Deere John” – won the prestigious American Choreography Award for Outstanding Achievement in Short film in 2002.
Upcoming Concerts & Events
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Yoko Greeney
Piano
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Collaborative pianist and chamber music visionary Yoko Greeney has been hailed as “one of the most significant members in Portland’s classical music scene” (Oregon ArtsWatch). Her multifaceted career—spanning directing, performing, teaching, and community engagement—reflects a deep commitment to artistic excellence and accessibility.
Celebrated for her sensitivity and stylistic range, Greeney is a sought-after collaborator who has performed at such noted venues as the Aspen Music Festival, Bard Music Festival, and California State University Summer Arts, to name a few. Since settling in Portland, Oregon in 2010, she has shared the stage with a variety of groups, including the Oregon Symphony, Chamber Music Northwest, 45th Parallel Universe, Oregon Ballet Theater, BodyVox, and Third Angle New Music, in addition to several live performances and recording projects with All Classical Radio.
A dedicated music educator and arts innovator, Greeney is the Co-Founder and Director of SoundsTruck NW: a custom-built, solar-powered mobile venue that brings live music directly to communities across the region. Recognized as “the gold standard” among mobile stages (Portland Tribune), SoundsTruck NW was a finalist for the 2024 SXSW Innovation Awards in the Urban Design category and a two-time prize winner at the 2024 International Sound Awards in Hamburg, Germany.
Originally from Osaka, Japan, Greeney has followed a global path—living and working in cities across Japan, Mexico, and the United States—before making Portland her home. She holds a master’s degree from the Peabody Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University and currently teaches at Lewis & Clark College. Together with her husband, Jon, she is a dedicated advocate for the arts, culture, and education.