Pianist Ursula Oppens Joins the New York Woodwind Quintet on Daniel Saidenberg Faculty Recital on Wednesday, March 18 at 8 PM in Juilliard's Paul Hall

Program includes works by Mozart, Carter, Thuille, and the world premiere of a work by Charles Neidich

 FREE tickets are available beginning March 4 at the Janet and Leonard Kramer Box Office at Juilliard, located at 155 West 65^th Street. Box Office hours are Monday through Friday from 11 AM - 6 PM. For further information, call the Juilliard Box Office at (212) 769-7406 or go to www.juilliard.edu.

Elliott Carter's Quintet for Piano and Winds was commissioned by Heinz Holliger and Köln Musik and had its world premiere on September 13, 1992 in Köln. Mr. Carter has written these notes on the work: When I accepted the commission by Heinz Holliger and Köln Musik to write this quintet for these remarkable performers, the thought of the masterpiece by Mozart for this combination led me to consider very seriously its range of expressive possibilities. To heighten the dialectic interplay between the instruments, I decided to treat the group as having three contrasting elements: piano, horn, and trio of woodwinds. Each is assigned to its own musical vocabulary and its own type of expressivity and character, derived from its instrumental capabilities. Although the quintet is in one continuous movement, there are frequent changes of mood, sometimes within one instrument's part, at other times by groups.

Charles Neidich's La Mano Sinistra (The Left Hand) receives its world premiere performance on this concert. The work was written for a flutist offstage playing only notes which can be played with the left hand. The other four members of the quintet are on a dimly lit stage. The piece is a dialogue between the flute, which can be heard but not seen, and the four other wind instruments. After the oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn finish, the flute appears on the stage for a final cadenza. Mr. Neidich has been a member of the Juilliard faculty since 1989. He has performed in recital in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

Ludwig Thuille's Sextet for Piano and Wind Quintet in B-flat Major, Op. 6 was composed in 1886-8 and is the only one of his works to remain in the repertoire. German composer and pedagogue, Ludwig Thuille, was a close friend and contemporary of Richard Strauss.

For almost 60 seasons, the New York Woodwind Quintet has maintained an active performance schedule in the United States and abroad while also teaching the next generation of woodwind performers. The Quintet has commissioned and premiered over 20 compositions, some of which have become classics of the woodwind repertoire. They include Samuel Barber's Summer Music, and quintets by Gunther Schuller, Ezra Laderman, William Bergsma, Alec Wilder, William Sydeman, Wallingford Riegger, Jon Deak, and Yehudi Wyner.  The Quintet has featured many of these in recordings for such labels as Boston Skyline, Bridge, New World Records, and Nonesuch. The Quintet's members also honor the legacy of departed members, including the late Samuel Baron, by continuing to perform his transcriptions of works such as Bach's Art of the Fugue and the Scherzo from Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and the late Ronald Roseman, by performing his Wind Quintet No. 2 and Sextet for Piano and Winds which was dedicated to the New York Woodwind Quintet and completed just before he died. Current NYWQ members, flutist Carol Wincenc, clarinetist Charles Neidich, oboist Stephen Taylor, bassoonist Marc Goldberg, and French hornist William Purvis, all internationally recognized performers and teachers, continue the Quintet's now 15 year long residency at The Juilliard School, where they present eight seminars each year for student woodwind quintets and give regular coaching sessions.

Guest pianist Ursula Oppens, one of the very first artists ever to grasp the importance of programming traditional and contemporary works in equal measure, has won a singular place in the hearts of her public, critics, and colleagues alike. Her sterling musicianship, uncanny understanding of the composer's artistic argument, and lifelong study of the keyboard's resources, have placed her among the elect of performing musicians. In 2008, Ms. Oppens celebrated the 100^th birthday of her friend and colleague, Elliott Carter, with critically acclaimed performances of his complete works for solo piano at the Boston Conservatory of Music, at Symphony Space, and at San Francisco Performances, plus appearances at Ravinia, Tanglewood, Merkin Hall, and elsewhere. She has commissioned and premiered many compositions, including works by Elliott Carter, Anthony Davis, John Harbison, Julius Hemphill, Tania Leon, Gyorgy Ligeti, Witold Lutoslawski, Conlon Nancarrow, Tobias Picker, Frederic Rzewski, Alvin Singleton, Joan Tower, Christian Wolff, and Charles Wuorinen. Ms. Oppens is a co-founder of Speculum Musicae and has an extensive recorded catalogue. She has received two Grammy nominations: for her Vanguard recording of Rzewski's The People United Will Never Be Defeated, and for American Piano Music of Our Time, a classic compilation of piano works by 20^th century American composers for the Music & Arts label. Ms. Oppens holds a master of music degree from Juilliard where she studied with Felix Galimir and Rosina Lhevinne. After 14 years as the John Evans Distinguished Professor of Music at Northwestern University, she joined the faculty of Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music and CUNY Graduate Center as Distinguished Professor in fall 2008.