Toronto Woodwind Quintet

Toronto Woodwind Quintet

Toronto Woodwind Quintet (Toronto Winds 1972-8). Founded in 1956 by Gordon Day (flute), Perry Bauman (oboe), Ezra Schabas (clarinet), Eugene Rittich (horn), and Nicholas Kilburn (bassoon) - all but Schabas principals in the CBC Symphony Orchestra and/or the TSO. Schabas was succeeded by Stanley McCartney in 1960, Day by Nicholas Fiore in 1962, Kilburn by Christopher Weait in 1970, and Bauman by Melvin Berman in 1971. For the first few years of its existence the quintet performed only on CBC radio. In 1958, however, it began to appear publicly, mostly within Ontario. It was at its most active during the 1960s, performing with the pianists Jacques Abram, Mario Bernardi, and Anton Kuerti and with the Festival Singers, Judy Loman, Phyllis Mailing, and the Montreal Brass Quintet. In 1965 it became one of the first groups to participate in the TSO-sponsored Prelude Concerts for school children. In 1966 it played at the University of New Brunswick. It appeared in several Ten Centuries Concerts. In 1967 it was the resident woodwind quintet on the teaching staff of the NYO, performed in Toronto at the International Congress of Organists and in Montreal for one week at the Canadian government Pavilion at Expo 67, and appeared in a festival at Memorial U in St John's, Nfld.

The group featured Canadian works in most of its programs and premiered Lucio Agostini'sSuite in a Popular Style (ca 1960), Harry Freedman'sQuintet for winds (1962; written for the group), Eckhardt-Gramatté's Woodwind Quintet (1963), and Weinzweig'sWoodwind Quintet (1965). In 1964 it participated with the Festival Singers in the first performance and the recording of Freedman's The Tokaido.

The group changed its name to the Toronto Winds in 1972. Under its new name it continued to perform locally and appeared at the Stratford Festival in 1973 and 1975. In 1974 it gave concerts in Great Britain. The group ceased activities in 1978.