ARTIST PROFILE

Dorian Wind Quartet

BIOGRAPHY

The Dorian Wind Quintet is recognized worldwide by professional musicians and audiences alike for its uniquely polished and passionate performances. Audiences consistently take with them memories of compelling, energetic and dramatic music-making.

Since its formation at Tanglewood in 1961, the Dorian Wind Quintet has performed repertoire ranging from the Baroque to Pulitzer Prize-winning commissions in the world's most renowned concert halls. The Quintet has literally been around the world-concertizing in 49 of the 50 states and Canada, touring Europe eighteen times, and playing throughout the Middle East, India, Africa and Asia. The Dorian made history as the first wind quintet to appear at Carnegie Hall (1981).

The Dorian Wind Quintet collaborates often with well-known artists, including Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Jean Casadesus, Phyllis Curtin, Lukas Foss, Claude Frank, Lee Hoiby, Lorin Hollander, Ruth Laredo, Jean-Pierre Rampal, James Tocco, and Beveridge Webster. The Quintet has appeared at numerous festivals including the Stravinsky Festival at Lincoln Center, International Festival in Warsaw, Caramoor International Music Festival, Newberry Spring Festival (Great Britain), Stratford Festival in Ontario, San Luis Obispo Festival, and the New American Music Festival in Sacramento.

The Dorian Wind Quintet has served as the resident ensemble for several institutions including the Mannes College of Music, Brooklyn College and the State University of New York System. The group was in residence at Dartington Hall (1984) and Newberry (1990) (both in England), the Tanglewood Music Festival (2001), and for over 10 years, at the Festival Institute at Round Top, Texas. Dorian currently serves as Ensemble-in- Residence at Hunter College in New York City. The ensemble offers both full and mini-residencies. The Dorian Wind Quintet has recorded on the Vox, CRI, Serenus, New World, and Summit Records labels. The works performed include George Perle's Quintet IV (commissioned by the Dorian Wind Quintet; winner of the 1986 Pulitzer Prize).

Every member of the Dorian is a virtuoso in his or her own right, as well as a dedicated chamber player. Each has been associated with the most prominent performing ensembles, venues and musical institutions in the world and has united in the Dorian Wind Quintet out of passion for the repertoire and the joy of its performance.

Flutist Gretchen Pusch made her Carnegie Recital Hall debut as winner of the Artists International Competition. She has appeared in recital and as concerto soloist in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. She is a member of the Dorian Quintet and has collaborated in chamber music performances with Flute Force, Musicians' Accord, Paula Robison, Julius Baker, Anthony Newman and Peter Schickele, among others. An active freelancer in New York City, Ms. Pusch has performed with the Brooklyn Philharmonic, American Symphony, New Jersey Symphony and on Broadway. She has recorded for CRI, VAI, Innova, Mode, Newport Classic, Windham Hill and Panasonic Japan. Ms. Pusch serves on the flute faculty of the Juilliard School's Music Advancement Program and was formerly on the faculty of Rutgers University. She is a graduate of Boston University and studied with Julius Baker, James Pappoutsakis and Keith Underwood.

Gerard Reuter began his oboe studies at the Juilliard School at the age of nine and continued there as a pupil of Lois Wann. He attended the Royal College of Music, studying with Terrence MacDonagh and Michael Winfield. Mr. Reuter is a favorite at summer music festivals such as Caramoor and Marlboro and has toured Europe and the United States with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. He has been principal oboist of American Ballet Theatre, An die Musik, Parnassus, and the New York Philomusica. As the recipient of the 1992 Pro Musicis International Award, Mr. Reuter was presented in solo recitals in New York, Boston, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Rome, Hong Kong, and Paris.

Jerry Kirkbride, clarinet, studied at the University of Southern California with Mitchell Lurie. Awarded a Fulbright grant to study in Rome, he worked with Nadia Boulanger, Efrem Kurtz, and Franco Ferrara. Before joining the Dorian Quintet in 1970, he was principal clarinet with the Metropolitan Opera National Touring Company and was a Creative Associate at the Center of Creative and Performing Arts in Buffalo, NY. He has many editions and arrangements published by International Music Editions. Mr. Kirkbride is also clarinetist with The Bruch Trio with Jesse Levine, viola, and Rex Woods, piano. He has been on the faculty of the University of Arizona since 1987 and has recorded for Summit, Columbia and Deutsche Grammophon.

Bassoonist Ethan Bauch is a graduate of The Juilliard School. Ethan made his New York debut as soloist at the age of 18 with The New York Philharmonic in a nationally televised Young People's Concert under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. He has been soloist with numerous other organizations since, including The New York Chamber Soloists, The Musica Aeterna Orchestra and The Philharmonia Virtuosi. He has performed with dozens of orchestras for symphony, opera, ballet, and Broadway, in back-up ensembles for popular artists, as well as for the soundtrack recordings of hundreds of TV and radio commercials, record albums, and motion pictures. He has performed at numerous music festivals including the Aspen Festival, Monadnock Music in southern New Hampshire, the Vermont Mozart Festival, Marlboro Music, the North Country Chamber Players, and the Festival Institute at Round Top Texas. In addition to his new position as bassoonist with the Dorian Quintet, Ethan maintains an active career as a free-lance bassoonist and teacher in the New York metropolitan area.

Nancy Billmann, horn, is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and The Juilliard School. Ms. Billmann joined the Dorian Wind Quintet in 1992 and regularly performs with groups including the Orchestra of St. Luke's, New York City Opera, Eos Orchestra, Concordia Chamber Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera Guild, New York Chamber Ensemble and on Broadway. Ms. Billmann has performed at summer festivals in Aspen, Tanglewood, and Banff. A winner of the American Horn Competition and the International Horn Society Performance Competition, she has been featured on radio station WQXR in New York and Wisconsin Public Radio.