Yale School of Music

Award-winning Imani Winds — an American wind quintet — performed in Yale’s Sprague Hall on Tuesday evening as part of the Oneppo Chamber Music Series.

The Imani Winds have been touring for 26 seasons, and have performed both domestically and internationally. The ensemble’s performance at Yale, “Black and Brown II,” aimed to celebrate composers of color, including Damien Geter, Carlos Simon and Billy Taylor. 

The show “completely transported me to so many different places full of so much thematic depth and variation,” said Albert Lee, a professor at the Yale School of Music. 

The Imani Winds are an internationally recognized music group, including members Brandon Patrick George, Toyin Spellman-Diaz, Kevin Newton, Mark Dover and Monica Ellis. 

The group has performed everywhere from Australia to Asia, and it has visited distinguished venues such as Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. Yale is one of many universities they will stop at on their current tour.

The Imani Winds are celebrated for their creative collaborations and daring programming. 

The group has been nominated for a Grammy thrice in their 27-year history. In 2006, they were nominated for Best Classical Crossover Album, in 2022 for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance and this season for Best Classical Compendium.

Their current tour, “Black and Brown II,” is “all music by Black and Brown composers,” said clarinetist Mark Dover. Uplifting composers of color has been “really important to the group for the whole history,” he said.

The quintet regularly updates its repertoire to incorporate pieces that reflect the phenomena of our modern society. Their playlist at Yale included modern pieces alongside iconic songs like “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free.”

The group uses their varied musical backgrounds to bring a new twist to the classic pieces they perform. 

“We try very hard not to just play it the way that it’s been played,” said horn player Kevin Newton. “We play it how we feel it and how we experience it.”

Toyin Spellman-Diaz — founding member and oboist of the quintet — said the group came together in New York in 1996. At the time, the members were graduate students at various local music schools. Bassoon player Monica Ellis was at the Juilliard School, while Spellman-Diaz was at the Manhattan School of Music.

Trust, humor and “something magical” about the five members have kept the musical group going strong, according to Spellman-Diaz. 

Aside from music, the quintet is committed to the dissemination of musical education. In addition to workshops they host at universities, the Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival is an annual summer program dedicated to musical excellence and career development for pre-professional musicians and composers. Their non-profit organization, the Imani Winds Foundation, supports their educational efforts.

The Imani Winds plan to do one more show in New Orleans before the holidays.

Sprague Hall was completed in 2003.