Nomad Session is San Francisco’s premiere wind and brass octet. Bringing wind instruments to the forefront, Nomad represents members of every woodwind and brass family (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, French horn, trumpet, trombone, and tuba) and is the first to use this instrumentation as a platform for a professional chamber ensemble rather than a one-time project. This hybrid ensemble of woodwinds and brass has caught the attention of some of the Bay Area’s most creative composers, and in the last year Nomad has commissioned seven new pieces for wind octet. Using the extreme versatility of their instruments, Nomad Session introduces audiences to a world of new musical opportunities by commissioning contemporary repertoire that further establishes the wind octet as a widely accepted chamber music genre, performing inspiring arrangements of classical and popular music ranging from Holst’s Planets Suite to Thriller by Michael Jackson, and exploring innovative performance experiences both on stage and in a park near you.
In keeping with its name, Nomad Session started a series of Pop-Up Outreach Concerts where musicians “wander” around local parks and establishments in order to bring music to the community. Drawing large audiences throughout the Bay Area, recent pop-up performances have taken place in Golden Gate Park, Lake Merritt, Winter Walk SF in Union Square, Dolores Park, Bernal Heights, Castro Art Walk, and at the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival.