Autumn Colours: Octets of Yesterday & Today

Island Chamber Winds is excited to return to Salt Spring with a program of octets for oboes, clarinets, horns, and bassoons. We usher in the fall with music that reflects the complicated feelings of the season: a balance of optimism and melancholy, a certain sense of contemplation and reflection, and a dose of comfort and good cheer.

We’ll be playing a diverse mix of music, from Beethoven to the present day, with an emphasis on the late 20th century, a wonderful and deeply underappreciated era of chamber wind music!

Program:

Ludwig van Beethoven: Rondino (1793)

Gordon Jacob: Divertimento in E Flat for Wind Octet (1968)

Ruth Gipps: Wind Octet Op. 65 (1983)

Igor Bazlik: Four Pieces for Wind Octet (1991)

Judith Bailey: Theme & Variations (1998)

Yunfei Li: Five Elements (2021)

Island Chamber Winds is a brand new organization founded in 2023 by conductor Ben Litzcke. Based mostly in Victoria, we tour Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands with ensembles of 8+ wind and brass players. Our repertoire ranges from classical to contemporary, always with a focus on living composers and underperformed music. We want to connect you with music that you won't hear anywhere else, and we hope you'll find something to fall in love with!

Musicians:

Ben Litzcke, conductor

Elizabeth Eccleston, oboe

Andrew Montgomery, oboe

Erin Onyschtschuk, clarinet

Luke Ongman, clarinet

Blythe Heywood, horn

Jean Poynter, horn

Katrina Russell, bassoon

Tracie Whitelaw, bassoon

Host or Publisher Island Chamber Winds