Classical meets contemporary at UA’s School of Music’s Woodwind Night.

Woodwind Night is a vast series of ensemble performances from students ranging from freshmen to seniors across the evening’s eight expertly-played instrumental pieces.

The opening piece, Malcolm Arnold’s “Three Shanties”, directed by Cynthia Cioffari, featured a variety of instruments including the flute, clarinet, and despite the evenings name, the horn. Other pieces featured the saxophone ensemble, The Timeless Quartet, who performed “Grave et Presto” by Jean Rivier under the tutelage of their coach Todd Gaffke.

The pieces ranged from classical works such as  Beethoven’s “Variations on a Theme by Mozart” and Friedrich Kuhlau’s “Grand Quartet for 4 Flutes, Opus 103,” to the more modern composer, Nancy Galbraith’s “Streaming Green.”

The final piece of the evening ended with the flute ensemble, “Streaming Green.” This was the only portion to feature a conductor.

Alex Morris and Ben Washburn, played the bassoon and the horn respectively in the piece “Klein Kammermusik, Op. 24, No. 2” by Paul Hindemith.

Ben Washburn, a senior Music Education major said, “It was fun to play [the evening’s piece]. It was tough to put together, but we managed to do it really well.”

The ensemble was presented at Guzzetta Hall on April 21 and was a collaboration between the musicians and their coach, Kristina Belisle Jones. According to Washburn, It was chosen because “It’s a standard piece of repertoire. It sounded like a fun challenge.”