Brandon Patrick George
Flute
Brandon Patrick George has been the flutist of Imani Winds since 2018 and has appeared with the group around the United States and Europe, and on the Grammy-nominated album Bruits.
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Brandon Patrick George has been the flutist of Imani Winds since 2018 and has appeared with the group around the United States and Europe, and on the Grammy-nominated album Bruits. He has been praised as “elegant” by The New York Times, as a “virtuoso” by The Washington Post, and as a “knockout musician with a gorgeous sound” by The Philadelphia Inquirer. His debut album was released by Haenssler Classics in September 2020; The New York Times has described it as “a program that showcases the flute in all its wit, warmth and brilliance.”
Brandon has performed at the Elbphilharmonie, the Kennedy Center, the Dresden Music Festival, and the Prague Spring Festival. In addition to his work with Imani Winds, Brandon’s solo performances include appearances at Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 92nd Street Y, Tippet Rise, and Maverick Concerts. His current collaborations include touring projects with harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani, pianist Aaron Diehl, and harpist Parker Ramsay. In 2021, Brandon was part of the inaugural class of WQXR’s Artist Propulsion Lab, a program designed to advance the careers of early and mid-career artists and support the future of classical music. During his yearlong residency at WQXR, Brandon guest hosted Evening Music, interviewed Ford Foundation president Darren Walker about diversity and equity in the performing arts, and recorded with pianist Aaron Diehl and harpist June Han.
Prior to his solo career, Brandon performed as a guest with many of the world’s leading ensembles including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE). With the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Brandon performed at Walt Disney Concert Hall and at the Hollywood Bowl with Music Director Gustavo Dudamel. His ensemble work allowed him to work closely with some of the foremost composers of our time including John Adams, Louis Andriessen, Tania León, Steve Reich, and George Lewis.
George trained at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the Conservatoire de Paris, and the Manhattan School of Music. He serves on the faculty of the Curtis Institute and the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.
Mekhi Gladden
Oboe
Mekhi Gladden is an oboist and English-hornist from Atlanta, Georgia who is currently based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are a recent graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and has since been playing with numerous ensembles throughout the United States.
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Mekhi Gladden is an oboist and English-hornist from Atlanta, Georgia who is currently based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are a recent graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and has since been playing with numerous ensembles throughout the United States. Mekhi began studying oboe at age twelve before entering the Talent Development Program at age fifteen under the tutelage of Emily Brebach, English horn of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. They later went on to study with Richard Woodhams, Toyin Spellman-Diaz, Robert Walters, Katherine Needleman, Philippe Tondre, and Elizabeth Tiscione at the Curtis Institute of Music. Mekhi has performed with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Symphony in C, and Memphis and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras as guest Principal.
They have recently been awarded First Prize in the Eric Varner Young Artist Competition, Audience Choice in the Virtual Oboe Competition, and Winner of the Jan and Beattie Wood Concerto Competition with performance as a featured soloist with the Brevard Music Center Orchestra. Mekhi works purposefully to further diversity, equity, and inclusion in classical music through their performance and advocacy. This has taken shape in their premiering of several new works for solo oboe, oboe and electronics, oboe and trumpet, and various other ensembles. They have recently worked at the Composers Conference at Avaloch as performance faculty and chamber music faculty. Their upcoming season includes a return to community concerts in retirement communities and youth communities through Astral Artists. Mekhi continues to explore through experimental improvised music – spearheaded by the People’s Music Supply centered in Philadelphia.
Mark Dover
Clarinet
GRAMMY® Award-winning clarinetist Mark Dover is a man of many horns, maintaining firm roots in classical music while ever-expanding into the vast world of improvised music.
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GRAMMY® Award-winning clarinetist Mark Dover is a man of many horns, maintaining firm roots in classical music while ever-expanding into the vast world of improvised music. Since 2016 he has served as the clarinetist of Imani Winds, and has appeared as a soloist with the Atlanta, Baltimore, and Albany Symphonies, and the American Composers Orchestra. Most recently, Mark was awarded a Grammy as a player and producer for “Best Classical Compendium” at the 2024 Grammy Awards for Imani Wind’s latest release, “Passion for Bach and Coltrane.” His debut album with Imani Winds, “Bruits,” was nominated for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance at the 2022 Grammy Awards. In 2023 Mark also joined the chamber ensemble yMusic. 2023-24 highlights include appearances at Carnegie Hall Presents with both Imani Winds and yMusic, NPR’s tiny desk with yMusic, and debuts at La Jolla Music Society and Tippet Rise Arts Center.
Mark has performed throughout the United States and abroad, at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Madison Square Garden, the Kennedy Center, the Elbphilharmonie, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In addition to performing with Imani Winds, Mark is the clarinetist with Manhattan Chamber Players. He has performed with the Detroit Symphony, The Cleveland Orchestra at Kent Blossom Music Festival, The Knights, Nu Deco Ensemble, and has performed at the Mostly Mozart Festival, Spoleto, Chamber Music Northwest, and many other Chamber Music series and festivals throughout the country and abroad.
Mark joined the chamber music faculty at Curtis Institute of Music in 2021. He is on the clarinet faculty at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, and Queens College, CUNY. Mark has conducted masterclasses at numerous academic institutions throughout the country, such as University of Michigan, Manhattan School of Music and the University of Texas at Austin.
In addition to his work in the classical world, Mark has an extensive background in jazz and improvised music. He formed the multi-genre duo Port Mande with pianist/producer Jeremy Jordan in 2017. Their debut EP “Is This Loss?” was released in July of 2020. A frequent collaborator with American funk band, Vulfpeck, Mark was featured as a performer and arranger on their highly acclaimed album “Thrill of the Arts,” and in 2019, played to a sold-out Madison Square Garden. He has performed and/or recorded with musicians of many different genres, including Jason and Alicia Moran, Chris Thile, Edward Simon, Brian Blade, Scott Colley, David Binney, Bernard Purdie, Cyrille Aimée, Lawrence, Darren Criss, Theo Katzman, Joey Dosik, Charlie Rosen and his 8 Bit Big Band, ETHEL, Dave Malloy, Phillipa Soo, Kris Bowers, Michael Thurber, Tessa Lark, Louis Cato, Charles Yang, and many more.
A graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy, Mark received his Masters of Music from the Manhattan School of Music and his Bachelor of Music from the University of Michigan. His teachers include David Krakauer, Deborah Chodacki, and Jay DeVries.
Mark is a Buffet Crampon and Vandoren Artist. He lives in New York City with his wife, soprano Faylotte Joy Crayton, and their daughter Lulu.
Kevin Newton
Horn
Kevin Newton is a GRAMMY® winning hornist, chamber musician and educator based in Manhattan. He is the horn player of Imani Winds and is an active freelancer in the greater New York area.
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Kevin Newton is a GRAMMY® winning hornist, chamber musician and educator based in Manhattan. He is the horn player of Imani Winds and is an active freelancer in the greater New York area. While growing up in Virginia, his first music teacher, his mother, instilled in him a love of music-making’s collaborative nature which persists to this day.
As a guest musician Mr. Newton has performed/recorded with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center, Alarm Will Sound, Talea Ensemble, Sejong Soloists, Nu Deco Ensemble, Harlem Chamber Players, Gateways Festival Chamber Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Tredici Bacci, Gil Evans Project and Roomful of Teeth. He has also performed on Broadway as a substitute musician in the pits of The Lion King and The Wiz. In addition to Imani Winds he is a member of the Metropolitan Horn Authority and Tsons of Tsunami.
An advocate for new music, Mr. Newton has premiered solo pieces for horn by Erin Busch and José Manuel Serrano and will premiere a new horn concerto from Anthony Plog. He has commissioned solo works by Tsuneo Imahori and Jeff Scott. As a chamber and orchestral musician Kevin has participated in premieres of works by Valerie Coleman, Jeff Scott, Paquito D’Rivera, Nathalie Joachim, Joy Guidry, Jessica Meyer, Carlos Simon, Damien Geter, Danny Elfman, Simon Hanes and Saad Hadaad among many others.
As a composer, Kevin has written pieces for solo horn and piano, most recently fulfilling a commission from the Kayden Music Commissioning Program at the Juilliard School Pre-College with the piece Hill House.
Mr. Newton formerly served as principal horn of the Waynesboro Symphony and, as an orchestral soloist, has performed works by Gordon Jacob, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Franz Strauss. As a soloist, Kevin has also performed original works and Justinian Tamusuza’s Okukoowoola Kw’Ekkondeere for solo horn. He will be a featured artist at the 2024 International Horn Symposium and was a featured artist at the 2022 Southeast Horn Workshop.
Mr. Newton holds faculty positions at the Curtis Institute of Music and in the Contemporary Performance Program at Manhattan School of Music. He is also on the faculty of the Kendall Betts Horn Camp. Mr. Newton has delivered horn masterclasses at many institutions including Yale University, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music and Boston Conservatory at Berklee among others. As a member of Imani Winds he has taught chamber masterclasses at colleges across the country.
Mr. Newton is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at SUNY Stony Brook. He holds a Master of Music in orchestral performance from Manhattan School of Music and a Bachelor of Music from Virginia Commonwealth University. His primary teachers have been David Jolley, Dr. Patrick Smith and Iffet Araniti-Davis.
Monica Ellis
Bassoon
Monica Ellis is a GRAMMY® Award-winning, four-time nominated bassoonist and founding member of the internationally acclaimed wind quintet, Imani Winds.
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Monica Ellis is a GRAMMY® Award-winning, four-time nominated bassoonist and founding member of the internationally acclaimed wind quintet, Imani Winds. For nearly three decades, she and her ensemble have captivated audiences with dynamic performances, adventurous programming, and an unwavering commitment to commissioning new works, fostering collaborations, and engaging in educational outreach. Their 10th studio album, Passion for Bach and Coltrane, composed by Jeff Scott and released on their own label, Imani Winds Media, earned the group its first GRAMMY® Award.
A proud “band kid” from Pittsburgh, Monica’s musical journey began on clarinet, saxophone, and piano before discovering the bassoon in middle school. She studied with Mark Pancerev of the Pittsburgh Symphony, later earning her Bachelor of Music degree from Oberlin College Conservatory of Music under George Sakakeeny. It was at Oberlin where her passion for community-building flourished, most notably through the Panama Project, a month-long immersive camp for young Panamanian musicians. She went on to receive a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School and a Professional Studies Certificate from the Manhattan School of Music, studying orchestral performance with Frank Morelli at both institutions.
Monica’s wide-ranging career includes performances and recordings with world-renowned artists and organizations from Wayne Shorter to the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. She has appeared as a soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, and Chineke! Orchestra at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall. Her discography includes 10 acclaimed albums with Imani Winds (on labels including Imani Winds Media, Bright Shiny Things, Koch International Classics, eOne, and EMI Classics.
A dedicated educator and mentor, Monica is on the faculty of both the Curtis Institute of Music and the Manhattan School of Music, and has held teaching roles at The Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program, The University of Chicago, and the Mannes School of Music. She is a highly sought-after clinician, frequently presenting master classes and solo recitals across the country.
As co-artistic and executive director of Imani Winds and its annual Chamber Music Festival, Monica is a passionate advocate for entrepreneurship and equity in classical music. She also serves as treasurer of the Imani Winds Foundation, and sits on the boards of the Concert Artists Guild and the International Double Reed Society (IDRS). A respected voice on issues of race, gender, and representation in the arts, she is often invited to speak and lead conversations on these topics.
The daughter of a jazz saxophonist and a fashion-forward mother, Monica was raised in a household full of creativity, ambition, and style. She is a Fox Bassoon Artist, performing exclusively on a Model 201.
Among her most meaningful recognitions is Imani Winds’ inclusion in the permanent classical music exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC.
Monica lives New York City’s historic village of Harlem, where she enjoys home decorating, never misses an episode of Jeopardy!, and is the proud mother of her greatest joy, her 12-year-old son, Oden.
