Wind Ensemble
April 23 @ 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Free
Jonathan Caldwell, conductor
Ryan Reynolds, bassoon
Program
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582
transcribed by Donald Hunsberger
IGOR STRAVINSKY
Symphonies of Wind Instruments (1947 version)
EDWIN FRANKO GOLDMAN
The Chimes of Liberty (1922)
LUKE ELLARD
The Seer (2017)
OMAR THOMAS
Come Sunday (2018)
Ryan Reynolds
Dr. Ryan Reynolds is Assistant Professor of Bassoon and bassoonist of the award-winning Akropolis Reed Quintet. An award-winning chamber musician, Dr. Reynolds has won prizes at six national chamber music competitions, including the Gold Medal at the 2014 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. He tours internationally as a member of Akropolis and has released five studio albums with the ensemble. The latest of these albums, Hymns for Private Use, was released in October 2022 on Bright Shiny Things, and debuted at #8 on the Billboard Traditional Classical Chart. In 2018, his collaboration with legendary clarinetist David Shifrin on the studio recording of a new chamber music version of Carl Nielsen’s Clarinet Concerto was released on Delos Records and nominated for an International Classical Music Award.
Dr. Reynolds has performed with orchestras throughout the United States including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, and Savannah Philharmonic Orchestra, among many others. An educator, Reynolds has served on the summer faculties of the Renova Music Festival and the Akropolis Chamber Music Institute. He has given masterclasses and lectures in Germany, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, and at many top American universities, including Yale University, the University of Texas-Austin, the University of Michigan, and Northwestern University. Reynolds is also an in-demand adjudicator and has served as a judge or panelist for projects and organizations including the International Double Reed Society, the Barlow Endowment, Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, the Calefax International Composers Competition, NOLA Chamber Music Competition, and many collegiate concerto competitions.
Dr. Reynolds contributes to the International Double Reed Society as the Lead Bassoon Recordings Reviewer for the quarterly journal The Double Reed, and as Chair of the IDRS Commissioning Sub-Committee where he leads the Society’s commissioning grant and composer competition programs. Reynolds is also an arranger and composer, and his works are performed by students and professionals around the world.
A native of Michigan, Dr. Reynolds received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the University of Michigan, and received his Doctor of Music degree from Florida State University. His primary teachers include Eric Stomberg, Jeffrey Lyman, and Jeff Keesecker.
The UNCG Wind Ensemble is the premier wind band of the UNCG School of Music, uniting fifty outstanding musicians from across the United States and around the world. Its members—ranging from first‑year undergraduates to master’s and doctoral students in performance and music education—are selected through a highly competitive audition process. Ensemble musicians regularly earn top solo and chamber awards, competitive scholarships and fellowships, and professional positions in orchestras, military bands, teaching, and arts leadership. Current students represent seventeen states, Slovenia, and Hong Kong.
For decades, the ensemble has built a distinguished record of artistic excellence, with acclaimed performances at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center, and leading venues throughout the eastern United States. Its catalog of more than twenty commercial recordings has received national recognition and helped position UNCG as a leader in wind band performance, commissioning, and recording.
The Wind Ensemble has been featured at major national and regional conferences of the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA), National Band Association (NBA), American Bandmasters Association (ABA), and Music Educators National Conference (MENC). The ensemble has also collaborated with prominent composers and performers, including Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Karel Husa and other influential figures in the field.
Recent highlights include performances at the Music Center at Strathmore; a joint concert with the United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own”; a twelve‑day international tour through the Czech Republic, Austria, and Italy, culminating in a featured performance at Prague’s renowned Dvořák Hall; and a tour of the Southern United States that concluded with an appearance at the national conference of the College Band Directors National Association.
