Performances + Events
From left: Hsuan Chiu, Caroline Wu, Anne Chao, Colin Merkovsky, and Dominic Panunto
On May 4, the Nth° Wind Quintet, an NEC Honors Ensemble, performed music by Jean Françaix, Ruth Crawford Seeger, György Ligeti, Jackson Yang ’25, and Valerie Coleman in a recital in Jordan Hall. The ensemble — flutist Anne Chao ’25 MM, oboist Caroline Wu ’26 MM, clarinetist Colin Merkovsky ’26 MM, bassoonist Dominic Panunto ’26 GD, and French horn player Hsuan Chiu ’26 MM — was coached by faculty clarinetist Christopher Elchico. Before their recital, the members of the quintet recorded a Studio Session. After their performance in Jordan Hall, they responded to a handful of questions. What follows is our conversation with the Nth° Wind Quintet and the Studio Session the ensemble recorded.
Q: How did you come together as a group? Will you continue to work as an ensemble beyond this academic year and/or beyond NEC?
A: Most of us met in the chamber music reading session at the start of the fall semester and our flutist, Anne, was recommended to us by a faculty member. Anne is graduating with her master’s this year (yay!) and will be coming back to NEC to pursue a DMA in flute performance. Beyond this academic year we plan to work in different configurations and perform in the community.
Q: You recorded Ligeti’s Six Bagatelles for your Studio Session. You performed this work on your May 4 recital in Jordan Hall. What have you learned as an ensemble through the study and performance of the piece?
A: Ligeti’s Six Bagatelles was one of the first pieces we worked on together as a group, so it is difficult to articulate everything that we have learned through our study and performance of it. Musically, it has been extremely enriching to get to dive so deeply into such a complex work, and on a personal level, it has been such a rewarding experience to see how we all have grown since we first started working on it.
Q: How did you choose the program for your May 4 performance in Jordan Hall and how did the pieces fit together?
A: We wanted to present a program that included a variety of styles while also challenging us and displaying our strengths as a group. The wind quintet repertoire doesn’t go as far back as the string quartet’s, but our selections covered the wide spectrum from classical harmony and melody to contemporary serialism.
Q: What did you learn from your coachings with Christopher Elchico?
A: Where to begin? As an avid chamber musician himself, Chris has an immense amount of knowledge and expertise in the field and always has insightful feedback for us in our coachings. His personable and genuine nature made it incredibly easy to build an honest, friendly, and constructive environment between all of us. From working with him, we all have grown as musicians as well as individuals.
Q: What have you learned from one another?
A: Beyond the technicalities of playing an instrument with others, we have learned how to consistently hold one another to a higher standard in a positive and productive way. There is a lot of difficult work that must be done in these rehearsals and we have found that our mutual respect, trust, and love for one another has made the process that much more fulfilling.
