Taproot New Music Festival: Splinter Reeds
Splinter Reeds
Kyle Bruckmann, oboe
Bill Kalinkos, clarinet
Nicki Roman, saxophone
Jeff Anderle, bass clarinet
Dana Jessen, bassoon
About Splinter Reeds
Splinter Reeds is the West Coast’s first reed quintet, comprising five innovative musicians with a shared passion for new music. The ensemble is committed to presenting top tier performances of today’s best contemporary composition, showcasing the vast possibilities of the reed quintet, commissioning new works, and collaborating with fellow musicians and artists.
As a relatively new chamber music genre, the reed quintet is an evolutionary detour from the traditional woodwind quintet with the advantages of a more closely related instrument family. Distinguishing themselves amongst even the relatively small number of professional reed quintets currently active worldwide, the ensemble is explicitly dedicated to cutting-edge composition and expanding the existing reed quintet repertoire through the collaborative development of new works by emerging and established composers.
Splinter Reeds formed in 2013 with the coming together of five colleagues highly active in multiple facets new music. The ensemble includes: Kyle Bruckmann (oboe), Bill Kalinkos (clarinet), Nicki Roman (saxophone), Jeff Anderle (bass clarinet), and Dana Jessen (bassoon). The sum of their wide ranges of experience—in settings including free jazz, improvisation, electronic music, pop, punk and metal as well as classical—has enabled them to rapidly zero in on a distinct aesthetic identity.
Recent concert engagements have included performances at New York City’s TIME:SPANS Festival, Dublin’s Music Current Festival, Chicago’s Constellation, San Francisco’s Fort Mason Center, Vancouver New Music, the Mondavi Performing Arts Center, Berkeley Art Museum, Festival of New American Music, Other Minds: The Nature of Music Series, and the Presidio Sessions series. Additionally, they have held residencies at universities across the country including Stanford, Northwestern, Wesleyan, Miami University, UC-Berkeley, Boston Conservatory, UC Davis and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, among several others. The ensemble has received grant awards from Chamber Music America, New Music USA, the Alice M. Ditson Fund at Columbia University, the Zellerbach Family Foundation, and the San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music. Splinter Reeds is fiscally sponsored through InterMusic SF.
TAPROOT NEW MUSIC FESTIVALFebruary 8–11, 2024 - The Department of Music at UC Davis presents the Taproot New Music Festival February 8–11, 2024, at the Ann E. Pitzer Center at UC Davis.
Overview
The Taproot New Music Festival will take place on the campus of the University of California, Davis, during the week of February 5, 2024, and will culminate in performances at the end of that week (February 8–11, 2024). Eight composers have been chosen to participate in the festival: they’ll have new pieces performed, and will participate in seminars and workshops facilitated by the visiting artists and UC Davis composition faculty. The festival will feature Splinter Reeds as a visiting ensemble. UC Davis’s own Empyrean Ensemble will also join the festival line-up.
Participating Composers
Dean Boursiquot
Stephen Ryan Jackson
Trey Makler
Kory Reeder
Philip Sink
Shahrzad Talebi
Amber Vistein
Zoë Wallace
Featured Ensembles
Splinter Reeds
Splinter Reeds is the West Coast’s first reed quintet, comprising five innovative musicians with a shared passion for new music. The ensemble is committed to presenting top tier performances of today’s best contemporary composition, showcasing the vast possibilities of the reed quintet, commissioning new works, and collaborating with fellow musicians and artists.
Empyrean Ensemble
Sam Nichols, director
Assoc. Prof. of Teaching, UC Davis Music Department
Matilda Hofman, conductor-in-residence
Continuing Lecturer, UC Davis Music Department
Ensemble-in-residence at UC Davis, the Empyrean Ensemble presents engaging and eclectic programs, inviting audiences to experience new musical sensations delivered with high artistry by its extraordinary players—among the finest new music performers in California.
Mission
The Taproot New Music Festival brings together a diverse group of composers and performers, both local and visiting, and gives them the chance to hear new work, and to make lasting connections. A biennial festival at UC Davis, it features concerts and other events, and also creates the opportunity for our students to work alongside exceptional artists. Actively inclusive and participatory, Taproot broadcasts a unique vision of how to sustain a musical community.