Western Wind gives Impromptu Concert performance at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Feb. 11

A cappella song stylists Western Wind will visit Key West for an Impromptu Concert performance at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 11, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 401 Duval St. The concert is the third of the 2018 Impromptu Concert season, which is celebrating the centennial of the late composer Leonard Bernstein, a frequent visitor to Key West.
This New York-based vocal group formed in 1969, and two of the co-founders remain in Western Wind: baritone Elliott Z. Levine and countertenor William Zukof, who is executive producer of the group’s Western Wind Records.
Other members of the group include sopranos Linda Lee Jones and Michele Kennedy, and tenors Todd Frizzell and David Vanderwal. All perform with many other musical groups in numerous venues.
Western Wind explores the full historic spectrum of vocal music, from Monteverdi to the 20th century. While early albums focused on traditional New England vocal music and Southern folk hymns, subsequent releases have included an extended series of Jewish holiday and Christmas songs, and American pop music.
The Judaica series, which included “A Musical Sabbath,” “The Birthday of the World,” “The Chanukah Story,” “The Passover Story.”  “Mazel Bueno: A Portrait in Song of the Spanish Jews,” featured guest narration by Leonard Nimoy, Theodore Bikel, and Tovah Feldshuh. (Levine is both composer-in-residence at St. Thomas More Church in New York City and cantor at Temple Emmanuel in Great Neck, N.Y.)
Western Wind’s ability to interpret avant-garde material has resulted in several groundbreaking recordings. The album “Birth of the War God Aztec,” featuring the vocal music of Charles Darrow, marked one of the first uses of the EMU Emulator digital sampler, while “Blessings and Batey” offered interpretations of David Darling’s “Blessings: A Prayer for the Planet” and Michel Camilo and Tania León’s Afro-Cuban composition “Batey.” The soundtrack for the Philip Glass 1983 film, “Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance,” was re-recorded and reissued in 1998.
Since 1989 Western Wind has produced a a series of programs for National Public Radio and Public Radio International. The New York Times praised the ensemble for delivering a “music of astonishing directness, irridescence and spiritual depth.”
At the Key West concert, Western Wind will perform a program including three Leonard Bernstein compositions, “Some Other Time,” “Somewhere,” and “Spring Song.”
The program will also include “My Funny Valentine,” by Richard Rodgers; Lennon and McCartney’s “Eleanor Rigby,” “Set Me As A Seal,” by Gayla Morgan; “Come Again Sweet Love Doth Now Invite,” by John Dowland. It will feature several other compositions from both the Baroque and Contemporary repertoires, performed in the group’s own inimitable style.
Tickets for the concert cost $20, and are available at www.keystix.com, or at the door on the afternoon of the event. Cash, checks, or credit/debit cards accepted. Students admitted free. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information visit www.keywestimpromptu.org
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