Category: Musical Musings
Posted on April 14, 2026
by Jason
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Laura composed “First Flight” to honor her friend Rebecca Lessard, founder of Wings of Wonder, a raptor rehabilitation center and sanctuary based in Empire, MI.
Category: Musical Musings, New Voices, PerformancesTags: Anne Bara, Benzie County, Benzie Wild Rose Society, chamber group, Chamber Music, clarinet, Classical Music, composers, Empire, flute, guitar, harp, Jason McKinney, Laura Hood, Leelanau County, manitou winds, modern music, New Voices, Northern Michigan, performance, quartet, Rebecca Lessard, Sam Clark, Wings of Wonder, woodwind
Posted on April 14, 2026
by Jason
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In “On Holt Avenue”, each of the four movements presents a small vignette from Jenni’s memories of daily life in her apartment in a particular Los Angeles neighborhood.
Category: Musical Musings, New Voices, PerformancesTags: Benzie County, Benzie Wild Rose Society, California, Classical Music, composers, concert, female composers, Interlochen, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Jason McKinney, Jenni Brandon, Los Angeles, manitou winds, modern music, New Voices, Northern Michigan, oboe, On Holt Avenue, piano, sonata, Susan Snyder, woodwind
Posted on April 14, 2026
by Jason
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In Baldwin’s “Landscapes”, the music delves into the life story of the artist, evoking the symbolism of the imagery while translating it into the unique timbres of the quartet.
Category: Musical Musings, New Voices, PerformancesTags: Anne Bara, bassoon, Benzie County, Benzie Wild Rose Society, chamber group, Christina Duperron, clarinet, Classical Music, composers, concert, Daniel Baldwin, Frankfort, Frederic Edwin Church, french horn, horn, Jason McKinney, Landscapes, Laura Hood, manitou winds, modern music, New Voices, Northern Michigan, piano, quartet, woodwind
Posted on April 14, 2026
by Jason
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This post was written in preparation for our May 2017 concert, Music Speaks In our 2017 spring concert, Manitou Winds explores the meandering, mystical path connecting music and words. Words were created to communicate. Whether spoken or written, we need words to translate, convey,… Continue Reading “Conferring with the Sun”
Category: Music Speaks, Musical Musings, PerformancesTags: art songs, cello, Chamber Music, concert, english horn, featured anytime, featured spring, Frances Densmore, Grace Episcopal Church, Havasupai, Jenni Brandon, Leslie Spier, manitou winds, modern music, Music Speaks, Native American Poetry, Nootka, Papago, piano, poetry, Ruth Underhill, soprano, Traverse City
Posted on November 6, 2018
by Jason
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As musicians, we translate written music—the composer’s instructions and all the technical demands—into an active, emotional experience for an audience. During our rehearsals, we often discuss where we think a piece is going—the story it’s telling, the images it brings to our minds, or… Continue Reading “Translating A Sunset”
Category: Musical MusingsTags: composition, concert, Grace Episcopal Church, Jan Ross, Jason McKinney, Leelanau County, manitou winds, narration, Northern Michigan, temporal art, Traverse City, Winter, Winter Songs & Carols, wintertime
Posted on November 13, 2017
by Jason
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In our annual winter concert, Manitou Winds presents a program of music, poetry, and prose inspiring you to embrace winter. Embracing winter can be tricky for some of us as it tends to arrive on our doorstep with a significant amount of baggage, doesn’t… Continue Reading “Listening for Silence”
Category: Musical Musings, Performances, Winter Songs & Carols, WS&C 2017Tags: Archibald Lampman, bassoon, clarinet, concert, Emily Curtin Culler, featured winter, flute, harp, Northern Michigan, piccolo, poetry, Snow, Winter, Winter Songs & Carols, Winter Songs and Carols, wintertime
Posted on May 17, 2017
by Jason
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In her latest work, “Sky Dance”, Laura composed both the music and the lyrics, arranging for flute, clarinet, ukulele, guitar, harp, and a very special mother-daughter vocal duet.
Category: Music Speaks, Musical Musings, PerformancesTags: Aurora Borealis, chamber group, Chamber Music, clarinet, composers, concert, Da Sister Hood, flute, folk music, Grace Episcopal Church, guitar, harp, Jessie Hood, Laura Hood, manitou winds, Music Speaks, Northern Lights, Northern Michigan, poetry, Sky Dance, Sleeping Bear Dunes, Traverse City, ukulele, words and music, world premiere
Posted on May 3, 2017
by Jason
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This post was written in preparation for our May 2017 concert, Music Speaks In our 2017 spring concert, Manitou Winds explores the meandering, mystical path connecting music and words. We’ve been discussing for the past few weeks how music can enliven poetry and prose… Continue Reading “A Bunch of Nonsense?”
Category: Music Speaks, Musical Musings, PerformancesTags: art songs, bassoon, chamber group, Chamber Music, clarinet, Classical Composers, composers, concert, David Jones, Edward Lear, Emily Curtin Culler, featured spring, flute, french horn, Grace Episcopal Church, horn, Jabberwocky, Lewis Carroll, manitou winds, Music Speaks, nonsense poetry, oboe, soprano, The Owl and the Pussycat, Traverse City, wind quintet, woodwind quintet
Posted on April 26, 2017
by Jason
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We explore one of Franz Schubert’s most celebrated lieder and learn how music and words can become inseparable.
Category: Music Speaks, Musical Musings, PerformancesTags: Anne Bara, art songs, chamber group, clarinet, composers, concert, Emily Curtin Culler, franz schubert, Interlochen Center for the Arts, lied, lieder, manitou winds, Michigan, Music Speaks, piano, poetry, Romantic Era, schubert, shepherd on the rock, soprano, Susan Snyder, Traverse City, words and music
Posted on April 19, 2017
by Jason
1 Comment
This post was written in preparation for our May 2017 concert, Music Speaks In our 2017 spring concert, Manitou Winds explores the meandering, mystical path connecting music and words. Music and words are often united through a composer’s use of poetry or prose (i.e.,… Continue Reading “What’s in a Title?”
Category: Music Speaks, Musical Musings, PerformancesTags: chamber group, Chamber Music, concert, featured anytime, featured spring, Grace Episcopal Church, Leelanau County, manitou winds, Margie Guyot, Music Speaks, Northern Michigan, Pastoral, Pastorale, Persichetti, wind quintet
