ENSEMBLE · WIND QUINTET
WindSync
2012
Concert Artists Guild winner 2016
Fischoff Competition winner Delos
/ Outhere recording label ABOUT
Over nearly two decades of performing throughout the United States and abroad, WindSync has proven itself “a major force in the American chamber music landscape” (Arts and Culture Texas), puncturing performing conventions and stretching the boundaries of what the wind quintet can be through fearless programming and a fresh stage presence. WindSync has appeared on some of the country’s most prestigious stages, including Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Library of Congress, at Chamber Music Northwest and the Ravinia, Moab, Orcas Island, and Phoenix Chamber Music Festivals, and internationally in China, Taiwan, Panama, Mexico, and Canada.
In the spirit of the dressed-down, boyband accessibility that inspired the quintet’s cheeky name, WindSync boasts a unique concert experience featuring largely self-generated repertoire—commissioned by the group or arranged in-house—performed frequently from memory and presented always with a personal touch from the stage. Building a new repertoire driven by purpose and growing from close collaboration, WindSync has commissioned new works from leading and rising American composers, including Viet Cuong, Nathalie Joachim, Shawn Okpebholo, Marc Mellits, Miguel del Aguila, Nicky Sohn, Akshaya Avril Tucker, and Mason Bynes—many of which have become emerging standards of the wind quintet literature. Commissions-in-progress include new music by Kian Ravaei, a sextet for piano and winds by Timo Andres to be performed with the composer, and a collaborative work with soprano Karen Slack composed by Michael Abels.
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Highlights of the 2025-2026 season, the group’s 17th, included collaborations with pianists Jon Kimura Parker and Evren Ozel, the Balourdet Quartet, and with the San Diego Symphony as soloists for the premiere of a new work by Ivan Trevino. WindSync also returned to the Grand Teton Music Festival, Chamber Music Tulsa, Caramoor and the Chautauqua Institution, as well as Chamber Music Northwest for an original collaboration with the dance company BodyVox.
The April 2026 release of the album Nadia celebrated Nadia Boulanger’s American legacy and christened the ensemble’s exclusive recording relationship with Delos/Outhere Music. Hailed by Gramophone as “ingenious and valuable,” the album includes world premiere recordings of the wind quintet by Marion Bauer and arrangements by WindSync bassoonist Kara LaMoure. The quintet’s 2024 album WindSync Plays Miguel del Aguila, recorded at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London, debuted at number one on the Billboard classical charts.
A 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, WindSync presents a year-round concert series as well as the annual Onstage Offstage Chamber Music Festival in Houston, Texas. The Festival integrates guest artists of national renown with WindSync members and local musicians from Houston’s vibrant music scene for artistic cross-pollination. The 10th anniversary edition of the Festival in 2026 featured a one-of-a-kind collaboration with the Balourdet Quartet for an ambitious chamber performance of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde without conductor.
Since the creation of a costumed and choreographed production of Peter and the Wolf that launched the ensemble’s first performances, education has been central to WindSync’s mission. WindSync has served on the faculty of Madeline Island Chamber Music and as a guest artist at universities, conservatories and music festivals across the country, including the New World Symphony, Yale School of Music, Eastman School of Music, Northwestern University, Kent Blossom Music Festival and dozens of others. WindSync also maintains a year-round educational partnership with the Houston Youth Symphony Coda Music Program, and in 2022 was honored with the Fischoff National Chamber Music Association’s Ann Divine Educator Award.
Founded at Rice University in 2009, WindSync embarked on a robust touring career after winning the Concert Artists Guild’s 2012 Victor Elmaleh Competition and the 2016 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, continuing as prize winners at the 2018 M-Prize Chamber Arts Competition. WindSync’s tri-coastal musicians—Garrett Hudson, Noah Kay, Graeme Steele Johnson, Anni Hochhalter and Kara LaMoure—make their homes in New York City, San Francisco and Houston.
PRESS & REVIEWS
What the critics say
“…stood out for the excitement generated and the extraordinary synchronization between the five members.”
— Seattle City Arts
“…plays many idioms authoritatively, elegantly, with adroit technique, and with great fun”
— All About the Arts
“a major force in the American chamber music landscape”
— Arts and Culture Texas
“ingenious and valuable”
— Gramophone
VIDEOS
Videos
2026-27
Programs & Repertoire
Program One
Boulanger's American Legacy
- Nadia Boulanger/arr. LaMoure Prelude in F and Three Pieces
- Philip Glass/arr. LaMoure Etude No. 17
- Elliott Carter Quintet (1948)
- Quincy Jones The Midnight Sun Will Never Set
WindSync spotlights American music growing out of the 20th century and the teacher who guided the shift, Nadia Boulanger, with music featured on the group's 2026 album 'Nadia.'
Program Two
Mirrors of the Mind
- Carl Nielsen/arr. Kara LaMoure Benedictus Dominus
- Carl Nielsen Wind Quintet, Op. 43
- Antonio Vivaldi/arr. LaMoure Trio Sonata in D minor 'La Follia,' RV 63
- Kian Ravaei New Work
Carl Nielsen's Wind Quintet, the masterpiece of its genre, paired with Kara LaMoure's virtuosic arrangement of Vivaldi's 'La Follia' and a new multi-movement work by Kian Ravaei.
Program Three
Toward the Light
- Nathalie Joachim Stumble, Fall, Fly
- Akshaya Avril Tucker What will you hold
- Shawn Okpebholo Rise
- Viet Cuong Flora
New music exploring social justice, personal resilience, and mental health, from composers who face these upheavals head-on yet reach toward hope.
Program Four
Timo Andres: New Work for Wind Quintet and Piano
- Philip Glass/arr. Kara LaMoure Etude No. 17
- György Ligeti selections from music for wind quintet
- Francis Poulenc Sextet
- John Adams/arr. Preben Antonsen Short Ride in a Fast Machine
- Timo Andres New Work
A major commission for wind quintet and piano, developed with WindSync and performed by composer-pianist Timo Andres. Premiering 2027.
Program Five
Turning Points: WindSync + Jon Kimura Parker
- W. A. Mozart Serenade in C minor, K. 388
- W. A. Mozart Quintet in E-flat major for Piano and Winds, K. 452
- George Gershwin/arr. WindSync Summertime
- George Gershwin/arr. Gutschy Rhapsody in Blue
A wind sextet program connecting Gershwin and Mozart, two composers whose experiments pairing piano with winds changed their careers.
Program Six
Ivan Trevino: Space Junk
A musical story for families in which WindSync serves as narrators, musicians, and theatrical performers. Available for wind quintet alone, with beginning musicians, or with symphony orchestra.
Ivan Trevino: Space Junk
Program Seven
The Song of the Earth
Mahler's 'Das Lied von der Erde' performed without conductor, in the spirit of Schoenberg's intimate chamber arrangement.
Gustav Mahler/arr. Arnold Schoenberg & Rainer Riehn: Das Lied von der Erde
Program One
Mirrors of the Mind
- Carl Nielsen Wind Quintet, Op. 43
- Antonio Vivaldi/arr. Kara LaMoure Trio Sonata in D minor 'La Follia,' RV 63
- Kian Ravaei New Work
Carl Nielsen's Wind Quintet, the masterpiece of its genre, paired with Kara LaMoure's arrangement of Vivaldi's 'La Follia' and a new multi-movement work by Kian Ravaei.
Program Two
Flora
A concert-length collection for wind quintet by Viet Cuong, by turns spiky and spiritual, inspired by the life cycles and survival of plants.
Viet Cuong: Flora
Program Three
Toward the Light
- Nathalie Joachim Stumble, Fall, Fly
- Akshaya Avril Tucker What will you hold
- Shawn Okpebholo Rise
New music exploring social justice, personal resilience, and mental health, from composers who face these upheavals head-on yet reach toward hope.
Program Four
Timo Andres: New Work for Wind Quintet and Piano
- Francis Poulenc Sextet
- Timo Andres New Work
A major commission for wind quintet and piano, developed with WindSync and performed by composer-pianist Timo Andres.
Program Five
Turning Points: WindSync + Jon Kimura Parker
- W. A. Mozart Quintet in E-flat major for Piano and Winds, K. 452
- George Gershwin/arr. WindSync Summertime
- George Gershwin/arr. Gutschy Rhapsody in Blue
A collaborative program with pianist Jon Kimura Parker connecting Gershwin and Mozart, whose endeavors pairing piano with winds served as turning points in their careers.
Program Six
Ivan Trevino: Space Junk
A musical story for families in which WindSync serves as narrators, musicians, and theatrical performers.
Ivan Trevino: Space Junk
Program Seven
The Song of the Earth
Mahler's 'Das Lied von der Erde' performed without conductor, in the spirit of Schoenberg's intimate chamber arrangement.
Gustav Mahler/arr. Arnold Schoenberg & Rainer Riehn: Das Lied von der Erde
Program One
Light and Lively
- W. A. Mozart Serenade in C minor, K. 388
- George Gershwin/arr. WindSync Summertime
- Various/arr. LaMoure after Väsen Botanist Suite
- Viet Cuong Flora
Popular styles and well-known works with an introduction to quintet repertoire.
Program Two
Winter Music
- Palestrina Exultate Deo
- Respighi/arr. Marquardt L'adorazione dei Magi from 'Trittico Botticelliano'
- Corelli/arr. LaMoure Concerto grosso in G minor 'Fatto per la Notte di Natale,' Op. 6 No. 8
- Valerie Coleman Umoja
- Offenbach/arr. LaMoure Ballet of the Snowflakes from 'A Trip to the Moon'
- Leroy Anderson/arr. Schweitzer Sleigh Ride
Music from the 16th century to today, exploring winter as depicted in art and dance.
Program Three
Song Book: WindSync + Percussion
- Marc Mellits Apollo
- Jimmie Davis/arr. Ziemba You Are My Sunshine
- Ivan Trevino selections from Song Book, Vols. 1 & 2
- Radiohead/arr. WindSync Exit Music (For a Film)
- Ivan Trevino Song Book, Vol. 3
- Son Lux/arr. WindSync Lost it to Trying
A collaboration with percussionist Ivan Trevino inspired by songwriters and poets, closing with a suite of instrumental songs.
On Stage
Featured Projects
Peter and the Wolf
Wind Quintet
WindSync's signature family and education program, a costumed and choreographed production built around Prokofiev's classic work. Central to the wind quintet's educational mission since its earliest seasons, the show introduces the five wind instruments of the orchestra through an engaging cast of characters before concluding with a retelling of Prokofiev's story, reaching young audiences in concert halls and school assemblies.
Space Junk
Wind Quintet
A family-friendly offering from WindSync, premiering in Spring 2026 with the San Diego Symphony: a theatrical musical story for wind quintet and full orchestra by award-winning composer Ivan Trevino. A little star, stuck beneath a tangle of discarded space junk, transforms the debris into dazzling creations — music, fashion, art — that reconnect her with the universe, in a radiant tale of resilience, creativity, and rediscovery. Designed to be theatrical, with musicians narrating and embodying the characters, and available in both English and Spanish.
Turning Points: WindSync + Piano
Wind Quintet and Piano
Inspired by the centenary of Rhapsody in Blue, WindSync offers a wind-sextet program connecting George Gershwin and W. A. Mozart — two composers whose experiments pairing piano with winds changed the course of their careers. The program is performed with a guest pianist, most often Jon Kimura Parker.
WindSync | College & University
Wind Quintet
WindSync's College & University residencies offer a wide range of opportunities for students, from artistic workshops to engagement, entrepreneurship, and career seminars — drawing on the ensemble's deep experience in education, community building, and creative placemaking.