MUSIC
BY BRETT CAMPBELL
LOOKING AHEAD
TO BACH
Imani Winds have been celebrating
difference for two decades
A
t a composers panel discussion at last summer’s
Chamber Music Northwest (CMNW) festival in
Portland, Imani Winds hornist Jeff Scott noted
that the wind quintet’s values arise in part from
its music.
Unlike a string quartet, “a wind ensemble is celebrat-
ing the differences among instruments, rather than the ho-
mophony of string or sax quartets,” he pointed out.
“Chamber music," Scott adds, "more than orchestral
music, allows the individuality of the musicians to shine
through to audiences because there’s no conductor inter-
mediary. The musicians are allowed to establish their own
individuality and tradition.”
Since its founding in 1997, Imani Winds have been cel-
ebrating differences and creating new traditions. The New
York-based group is not only the world’s leading wind
quintet, but also one of classical music’s too-few ensem-
bles composed of musicians of color.
Moreover, unlike most performing ensembles, Imani
boasts two first-rate composers, Scott and flutist Valerie
Coleman, who both write some of the most fascinating
chamber music being created today.
Imani Winds returns to Eugene June 30 in an Oregon Bach
Festival concert, then heads up to Portland for this summer’s
CMNW, where last year they succeeded the storied, older, all-
white, all-male Emerson Quartet as artists in residence.
They also performed a recent weeklong spring CMNW
residency, including performances at Oregon Museum of
Science and Industry planetarium, Hillsboro’s Walters Cul-
tural Arts Center and with BodyVox dance company.
“We’ve been coming to Oregon every two or three
years for 15 years,” Scott recalls.
“The audiences have been so nice to us,” says oboist
Toyin Spellman-Diaz. “It’s hard to think of nicer audiences
than in Portland and Eugene.”
The feeling is mutual. Imani has cultivated a substan-
tial, diverse and enthusiastic audience. Their skill as musi-
cians plays the biggest role, of course — they’re among the
finest of all chamber performers. But their genuinely en-
JUNE 22-28
6/22 - 6/28
NO PASSES OR DISCOUNTS
1:45
FRI
SAT-SUN 11:30 1:45
1:45
MON-WED
1:45
THU 6/28
MOVIES
THAT
bijou-cinemas.com
MATTER
Serving the Eugene Community for Over 35 Years!
THE SEAGULL (PG-13)
At a picturesque lakeside estate, a love triangle unfolds between the
diva Irina, her lover Boris, and the ingenue Nina. Based on the play
by Anton Chekhov.
2:00 3:45
2:00 3:45
2:00 3:45
HEREDITARY
2:15
FRI
SAT-SUN 11:30 2:15
2:15
MON-WED
2:15
THU 6/28
ISLE OF DOGS
RBG (PG)
An intimate portrait of an unlikely rock star: Justice Ruth Bader
Ginsburg. With unprecedented access, the fi lmmakers explore how her
early legal battles changed the world for women.
Fri - Wed 1:15, 3:30, 5:45 • Thurs 1:15, 8:00
FIRST REFORMED (R)
5:30
5:30
5:30
5:30
7:20
7:20
7:20
7:40
9:30
9:30
9:30
9:50
762-1700 | 180 E. 5TH AVE
DAVIDMINORTHEATER.COM
$3 TUESDAYS
JUNE 22ND - JUNE 28TH
Including Vegetarian Seafood,
Meat Substitutes & Snacks
Asian Groceries
READY PLAYER
ONE
5:00
THE SHAPE
OF WATER
5:10
DEATH OF STALIN
7:20
Seaweed, rice, noodles, frozen products,
deli, snacks, drinks, sauces, spices,
produce, housewares, and more.
Sushi & Asian deli take-out
Woodfi eld Station
SHOPPING CENTER
NO PASSES OR DISCOUNTS
7:30
WED
WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?
29TH AVENUE
SNEAK PREVIEWS – NO PASSES OR DISCOUNTS
THU 6/28 7:20 9:05
METROarts: SCREENDANCE:
BEST OF THE NORTHWEST
PREMIUM EVENT ADMISSION
11:00
SAT
THU 6/28 7:00
OAK STREET
43 W. BROADWAY
(541) 686-2458
REGULAR
ADMISSION
$9 ADULTS
$8 STUDENTS
$6 SENIORS
$6 BEFORE 5 PM
OPEN EVERY DAY
Now Featuring
Middle Eastern Food
& Vegetarian Items
7:40 10:15
10:15
5:00 7:40 9:30
5:00 7:40 9:30
5:00 7:40 9:30
5:00
9:30
Asian Food
Market
WILLAMETTE STREET
ADULT $8 | STUDENT $7 | SENIOR 62+ $6 CHILD age 12 & under $6
9:30
9:30
9:30
9:40
STUDENT
& SENIOR
DISCOUNT
5:00
12:15 5:00
5:00
STRAIGHT INTO A STORM:
10 YEARS OF DEER TICK
Fri - Wed 8:00pm • Thurs 3:30 pm
TICKET PRICES: MATINEE before 5pm $6
7:00
7:00
7:00
7:30
HELD OVER
FRI-SAT
SUN
MON-THU
A pastor of a small church in upstate New York spirals out of control
after a soul-shaking encounter with an unstable environmental activist
and his pregnant wife. Written & Directed by Paul Schrader (Taxi
Driver) and starring Ethan Hawke.
Thursday 6:00 pm
Imani Winds performs 7:30 pm Saturday, June 30, at the University of
Oregon’s Beall Concert Hall. Tickets at oregonbachfestival.com.
MOUNTAIN
HELD OVER
FRI-TUE
WED
THU 6/28
1:30, 3:45, 6:00, 8:15
Ashley Bell and a team of elephant rescuers led by Asian elephant
conservationist Lek Chailert embark on a daring 48-hour mission
across Thailand to rescue a 70-year old captive Asian elephant and
lead it to freedom.
4:20
4:20
4:20
4:20
HEARTS BEAT LOUD
NO PASSES OR DISCOUNTS
2:40
FRI
SAT-SUN 11:30 2:40
2:40
MON-WED
2:40
THU 6/28
ta and Tzigane, which shares a name, Roma influences and
danceable dazzle with Ravel’s virtuoso showpiece.
Reena Esmail’s incandescent The Light Is the Same,
based on the Sufi poetry of Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi,
uses Indian scales and rhythmic devices. It emerged from
the group’s Legacy Commissioning Project, which has
spawned 20 new works so far.
“That’s what Imani Winds is most proud of,” Spell-
man-Diaz says, “expanding the repertoire by adding new
sounds. We’re constantly listening to new composers, try-
ing to think of ideas to link your program together and
make a theme that inspires the audience and the performers
to feel like you’re in a special space.”
Imani has worked with jazz musicians like Jason Mo-
ran, Wayne Shorter and Edward Simon, world music per-
formers like Simon Shaheen and Paquito d’ Rivera, and
many other non-“classical” composers.
“With so much Bach and Beethoven, you’re only going
to get a certain demographic over the long haul,” Scott ex-
plains. “You have to do things that are interesting enough
for a wider variety of folks.”
Imani’s diverse, enthusiastic audiences, too, celebrate
the differences.
TIX $5 SUNDAYS
$7 $3 TUESDAYS
AMERICAN ANIMALS
492 E. 13th Ave
541-357-0375
LOVE & BANANAS: AN ELEPHANT STORY (NR)
thusiastic, refreshingly un-canned stage charisma, as well
as their audience-conscious programming, also encourage
broader listenership than most classical-music concerts’
traditionally narrow demographic.
“Just by who we are, we look a little bit different than
most classical music ensembles, so that automatically
makes people think we’re going to be a little different from
what you’re expecting in a classical music concert,” Spell-
man-Diaz explains.
“But we also spend a lot of time programming gratify-
ing listening for everyone," he adds. "So we try to have at
least one classical work on the program, and then we might
combine that with some world music and some jazz based
repertoire.”
Case in point: Their Bach Festival concert includes an in-
ventive arrangement of movements from a popular classic,
Rimsky-Korsakov’s luscious Scheherezade. They’ve also
Imanified Gustav Holst’s The Planets and Stravinsky’s The
Rite of Spring, and have a lively arrangement of 20th-cen-
tury Argentine nuevo tango master Astor Piazzolla’s Con-
trabajissimo as well as a spirited romp through avant garde
composer George Ligeti’s Six Bagatelles.
Best of all, the show features two lively originals
by Coleman (who’s on temporary leave, replaced by
Julietta Curenton), Red Clay And Mississippi Del-
Sunrise
A QUIET PLACE
7:30
TULLY
9:05
MOONRISE
KINGDOM
9:15
www.sunriseasianfood.com
M-Th 9am-7pm•F 9am-8pm•Sa 9am-7pm•Su 10am-6pm
70 W. 29th Ave. Eugene • 541-343-3295
eugeneweekly.com • June 21, 2018
21