Richmond County Orchestra's Utopia Winds Concert & Q&A

JMMTA along with the Richmond County Orchestra under the direction of Alan Aurelia presents: Utopia Winds Playing Classical, Jazz, Pop, Broadway, and Standards

Friday Nov 18th 7PM

$25.00 Museum members $20.00 | Limited to the first 35 reservations

Utopia Winds is a subset of the Richmond County Orchestra, whose notable performances include playing for Carnegie Hall, the Gugginheim, and the MET.

UTOPIA WINDS

Although utopia means "nowhere," we think clarinet quartets should be everywhere — our goal is to present live performances of music for any combination of four clarinets.

Founded in 2007, Utopia Winds has more than 300 pieces in our repertoire, which spans several centuries and includes compositions written specifically for our instruments, transcriptions of famous string quartets, and arrangements of jazz and pop standards. When not "quartetting," the members of Utopia Winds perform with orchestras, opera companies, and other ensembles in the New York area. Collectively, we have decades of professional experience.

MEET UTOPIA WINDS

Larry Seltzer – Bass Clarinet / Clarinet

Larry Seltzer holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Leon Russianoff and Charles Russo. Larry has performed in and around New York with such organizations as the Absolute Ensemble, Broadway Bach Ensemble, Camerata New York, New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra, and New England Symphonic Ensemble. In October 2008, he was a member of the chamber orchestra that provided taped and live music for NY.2022, a critically acclaimed Soylent Green-inspired installation at the Guggenheim Museum. Larry plays clarinet and bass clarinet in the Richmond County Orchestra and Riverside Opera Company. An accomplished a cappella vocalist, he has sung in Carnegie Hall and was part of a barbershop quartet that performed the national anthem in Shea Stadium during its last season.

Leslie Jay – Clarinet

Leslie Jay has played in venues ranging from Grand Central Terminal and public libraries to Alice Tully, Merkin, Weill, and Town Halls. Her resume includes performances with the Amato Opera, Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra, Concert Pops of Long Island, Dobbs Ferry Opera, New Rochelle Opera, New York Debut Orchestra, and Opera Northeast, among other ensembles, as well as a joint recital in Chengdu, China, with faculty at Sichuan University. Currently she is a member of the Richmond County Orchestra and its affiliate, the Riverside Opera Company, both in Staten Island. Leslie holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale. She taught single-reed instruments at Bayside School of Music and Art for four years before accepting an editorial job at Queens College, where she writes about the performing arts. A novice gardener, Leslie is proud of the pesto she makes from homegrown basil and parsley.

Glenda Torres – Clarinet

Glenda Torres earned her Bachelor of Music in Instrumental Performance from Unearte (Experimental University of the Arts), Caracas, Venezuela. She played in the Banda Marcial Caracas—the oldest musical group in Venezuela—as well as the Miranda State Symphony Orchestra and the Academic Wind Octet of Caracas. As an educator, Glenda has extensive experience in organizing children’s and youth ensembles, especially bands. She taught and was a wind group facilitator for El Sistema. At the renowned Emil Friedman School, she oversaw all aspects of the clarinet orchestra, including serving as its director, arranger, librarian, manager, and coach, and taught at all levels from kindergarten to graduate study.

Alice Petre – Clarinet

Alice Petre studied music composition at the University of Southern California, all the while taking as many opportunities as possible to play clarinet in the many ensembles available to her on campus. Since then, she’s been seen as a substitute in the La Jolla Symphony, the Manhattan Symphonie, and leading the clarinet section in New York’s own Lesbian and Gay Big Apple Corps symphonic and marching band. She is now teaching clarinet to children of all ages with UpBeatNYC and the Corona Youth Music Project. While not busy with the clarinet, she prefers to spend time cooking a comforting meal for friends and family.

For more information on Utopia Winds, check out their website: https://utopiawinds.com. You can also find them on Facebook, www.facebook.com/utopiawinds and Instagram, www.instagram.com/utopiawinds.