Chamber Music Detroit Presents World Premiere Featuring Imani Winds & Friends in April

Chamber Music Detroit presents the world premiere of a new work by Jeff Scott titled "Fallen Petals of Nameless Flowers" whose poetry is based on collected writings of formerly incarcerated youth in Michigan's prisons. Performed by the Grammy Award-winning quintet Imani Winds, the performance also features pianist Cory Smythe, cellist Seth Parker Woods, and Detroit-based poet Robert Laidler, who composed the text. The piece was commissioned by Chamber Music Detroit with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Lee and Paul Blizman Endowment for Contemporary Music.

The performance takes place at Seligman Performing Arts Center in Beverly Hills, Michigan on Saturday, April 9, 2022 at 8:00 PM. Tickets for the live concert ranging from $12.50 to $65 are available by phone at 313-335-3300 or online at www.cmdetroit.org. The performance will also be streamed live, and digital-only tickets priced at $10 are also available by phone or online.

The Queens, New York-born composer Jeff Scott is a versatile musician of great breadth who teaches French horn at the Oberlin Conservatory and has had a thriving career as a performer encompassing classical music, jazz, Broadway theater and ballet. His own compositions are rooted in European traditions and informed by his African American background and culture.

Scott had had this to say about his new work: "In a shadowed corner of the American judicial system, the application of mandatory sentences of life without the possibility of parole has fallen upon very young offenders, disproportionately so upon young men of color. Against a backdrop of legal systems in Michigan and elsewhere still taking halting steps toward righting this wrong, Fallen Petals of Nameless Flowers combines personal accounts of formerly incarcerated individuals, original poetry by Robert Laidler, and an original music score to shine a brighter light on the human side of this issue. The metaphors of flowers as men and petals as arms are used dramatically in the poetry, as well as the personal stories. This and the colorful instrumentation of the ensemble made for rich source material and composition tools for the score. It is my hope that this work will help to create a safe space for further discussion, action, and empathy."

Celebrating over two decades of music making, the Grammy nominated Imani Winds has led an evolution of the wind quintet through its dynamic playing, adventurous programming, imaginative collaborations and outreach endeavors for audiences of all ages and backgrounds. The ensemble's playlist embraces traditional chamber music repertoire, but they are also committed to expanding the wind quintet repertoire by commissioning music from new voices that reflect historical events of our times.

Imani Winds has performed at such major venues and festivals as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Walt Disney Hall, the Kimmel Center and the Santa Fe, Banff and Ravinia Festivals, and has toured abroad across Asia, South America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Imani Winds' presence in the jazz world is highlighted by its association with saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter, woodwind artist and composer Paquito D'Rivera and pianist and composer Jason Moran. Their ambitious project, "Josephine Baker: A Life of Le Jazz Hot!" was enthusiastically received in New York, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Los Angeles and St. Louis.

Robert Laidler is an African-American poet born in Detroit. He received a Master'a degree at Wayne State University, where he was the inaugural Daniel Keyes Fellow in poetry. He has taught creative writing and poetry and has won numerous awards. He is currently a Master's candidate in poetry at the Helen Zell Writers' Program at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor.

Recipient of the 2022 Chamber Music America Michael Jaffee Visionary Award and hailed by The Guardian as "a cellist of power and grace," cellist Seth Parker Woods has established a reputation as a versatile artist straddling several genres. A fierce advocate for contemporary arts, Woods has collaborated with a wide range of artists from Louis Andriessen, Elliott Carter, Heinz Holliger, to Peter Gabriel, Sting, Lou Reed and Dame Shirley Bassey, among others. His 2021-22 season will include debuts at The Britt Festival, 92nd Street Y, Harbourfront Theatre, Ojai Festival, Washington Performing Arts, The Strathmore and Harvard.

Pianist Cory Smythe has worked closely with pioneering artists in new, improvisatory, and classical music, including saxophonist-composer Ingrid Laubrock, violinist Hilary Hahn, and multidisciplinary composers from Anthony Braxton to Zosha Di Castri. Smythe has been featured at the Newport Jazz, Wien Modern, Trondheim Chamber Music, Nordic Music Days, Approximation, Concorso Busoni, and Darmstadt festivals, as well as at Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart festival. Smythe received a Grammy award for his work with Ms. Hahn and plays regularly in the critically acclaimed Tyshawn Sorey Trio.

Please note that the Chamber Music Society of Detroit will adhere to all state, federal and venue COVID-related policies in effect. For details on the most up-to-date policies, please visit www.cmdetroit.org.

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