Vanguard Reed Quintet

watch the trailer

about the album

In 2016, our first year together as an ensemble, our classmate Douglas Hertz approached us to write a piece for reed quintet, which became From Lidless Eyes. After working with Doug, we knew we had to continue collaborating with our fellow students at the University of Michigan. We asked several of our friends to write pieces for us, which led to the other five works on this album!

Thanks to our collaboration with Daniel Zlatkin, in August 2018, we had the opportunity to premiere and perform some of these works at National Sawdust in Brooklyn, NY. Gala, Karl, Karalyn, Daniel, Doug, and Nina present unique and interesting takes on the capabilities of the reed quintet.

The title of the album, Red Leaf Collection, is taken from the name of Karalyn Schubring’s piece. The composer describes the leaves in her collection as “beautiful gems,” and that is what these six pieces are to us. The collaborations that arose from these commissions have evolved into lasting friendships, and by recording this album, we hope to cement our friends’ works in the reed quintet’s repertoire.

We’re excited to share this with you!

about the music

Click on a composer’s picture to find out more about them and their music:

Thank you

This album would not have been possible without the support of the EXCEL Enterprise Fund at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, from which we received a $1,500 grant in 2018 to fund this project.

In the fall of 2018, we raised over $8,000 through individual contributions to our Kickstarter campaign. Thank you to the following backers for their support: