XL ARTS

Like 'American Idol,' but with woodwind compositions

By Jeanne Claire van Ryzin
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, April 01, 2009

It isn't always easy getting an audience out to see a woodwind ensemble.

Maybe a bonfire will help.

"Wet Ink," a pair of concerts on Sunday and Tuesday by five-member Austin ensemble Wild Basins Winds, will feature all new music, including some compositions that have never been heard by an audience before.

Composers from all corners seek out Wild Basin Winds hoping they'll take on their music. Two composers on the upcoming program hail from Italy.

"We always want to champion music by living composers," says Tom Hale, French horn player and ensemble co-founder. "But sometimes new music is really forced onto an audience and the audience feels like they don't have much of a say or a chance to respond."

And so at "Wet Ink," the audience will be invited to vote on which new piece they like best. And by default the least liked also will be revealed.

Now, what do to with those unliked scores after the last gig?

"Possibly there'll be a bonfire at the end," deadpans Hale. "Possibly."

What is possible is that for the price of a pair of tickets you'll get a free copy of "Ferdinand the Bull," Wild Basins Winds' collaboration of children's folklore songs with the Biscuit Brothers, the wildly popular children's country band.

The release is just one of several Wild Basins Winds has made since forming in 1996. They've also toured to Argentina and Italy and played the Kennedy Center.

And the CD giveaway is just one more way to entice an audience, Hale says.

Like other small classical groups in Austin, Wild Basins Winds has a modest but loyal audience. Building a large circle of admirers has its challenges.

Hale cites scheduling as one. With the ensemble all pulling double (or triple) duty juggling university teaching careers or maintaining longtime gigs as members of the Austin Symphony Orchestra and the Austin Lyric Opera orchestra (Hale is principal French horn for both; Stephen Grinko is principal oboe for ASO), there's only so many available free days.

Venue is another problem. Churches are inexpensive but some are too large for a woodwind quintet. A gig at the Long Center's Rollins Studio Theatre last year was fun, but not affordable for a second time around.

The challenges don't get in the way of the Wild Basin Winds having a good time. Over the years they've developed a set of programs with irreverent names.

The ensemble dubbed a set of modern classical music "Squeaken Ohne Fahrten" (squeaking without farting), a pops program is called "Texas Weather" ("if you don't like it, just wait a minute") and a lineup of romantic music is "Not Tonight Dear, I Have a Hautbois," ("hautbois" is French for oboe).

Perhaps the next program, then, should be "Wet Ink — Does it Burn?"

jvanryzin@statesman.com; 445-3699