The Moran Woodwind Quintet of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Glenn Korff School of Music presents a program titled “Twentieth-Century Gems” on Wednesday, April 8, 2020 in Westbrook Recital Hall on the UNL campus. All composed in the 20th century, the works chosen span a broad sweep of styles, from French insouciance and German intricacy to American neo-Romanticism and quirky fun. Audiences may know Jacques Ibert’s Trois Pièces, a standard in the quintet literature. This is followed by American composer Eric Ewazen’s Roaring Fork, a three-movement work depicting the natural wonders of Colorado. Ewazen is on the composition faculty at the Juilliard School in New York City. The Moran Quintet offers a major work by German composer Theodor Blumer, whose Schweizer Quintett takes its title from the final movement, a set of colorful variations on a Swiss folksong. The evening concludes with Anthony Plog’s Animal Ditties, accompanying texts by American poet Ogden Nash, whose witty, pithy poems are sure to delight.

One of the most active and visible quintets in the Midwest, the Moran Woodwind Quintet is the resident faculty woodwind quintet of the Glenn Korff School of Music. Formed in 1986 and named for the late John Moran, director of the UNL School of Music, the Quintet has toured extensively. The Quintet has recorded three CDs for Crystal Records, including two CDs featuring the music of the early 20th-century German composer Theodor Blumer and one with American woodwind quintets (music of Heiden, Higdon, Murdock, and Lieuwen). The Quintet has also recorded on the Coronet label.

Free and open to the public.

This performance will also be live webcast. Visit music.unl.edu the night of the performance.