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The Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet plays the Third Movement of Carl Nielsen's Quintet, Op. 43.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 16, 2014) — The University of Kentucky Bands will present the internationally renowned Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet in concert this weekend. The program will include works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Paul Hindemith, Jaques Ibert, Darius Milhaud and Jean Francaix. The performance will begin at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 17, at the Singletary Center for the Arts Recital Hall.

The Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet has performed all over the globe and is, according to Manchester Evening News, “arguably the best ensemble of its kind in the world.” The quintet was founded in 1988, during the era of Herbert von Karajan, the first permanently established wind quintet in the famous orchestra's rich tradition of chamber music.

Members of the quintet are living musical witnesses to the hugely productive and influential musical partnerships of the Berlin Philharmonic not only with Karajan, but also with its two most recent musical directors: Claudio Abbado and Sir Simon Rattle. Naturally, as members of the Berlin Philharmonic, they have also enjoyed important collaborations with every other major conductor of their times, whether Leonard Bernstein, Carlos Kleiber, Sir John Barbirolli, Günter Wand, Carlo Maria Giulini, Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Muti, Pièrre Boulez, James Levine or Daniel Barenboim, to name a few.

Credited with changing the sound of the classic wind quintet, Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet found themselves recording with Swedish company BIS Records in 1991. In most recent years, Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet has been coaching youth in workshops in many different countries. They have a special commitment to the youth orchestra program of Venezuela.

Cody Birdwell, director of UK Bands, saw the quintet perform with the Berlin Philharmonic while attending a conducting workshop in France in 2012. Birdwell began correspondence and now is excited that UK Bands will host the quintet for their final performance on their current tour. The members of the quintet will also be working with UK students during a series of master classes Saturday, Oct. 18.

To learn more about Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet, as well as see photos and video from performances, visit their website at www.windquintet.com.

Tickets for the Berlin Wind Quintet are $30 for general admission or $10 with a valid UK student ID. For more information regarding this concert, contact Cody Birdwell at cody.birdwell@uky.edu.

UK Bands is part of UK School of Music at UK College of Fine Arts. The school has garnered a national reputation for high-caliber education in opera, choral and instrumental music performance, as well as music education, composition, and theory and music history.

MEDIA CONTACT: Whitney Hale, 859-257-8716; whitney.hale@uky.edu