Splinter Reeds is the Bay Area’s first reed quintet comprising five virtuosic musicians with a shared passion for new music. The ensemble is committed to presenting top tier performances of today’s best contemporary composition, showcasing the vast possibilities of the reed quintet, and commissioning new works through collaboration with fellow musicians and artists. Splinter Reeds performs works by Cara Haxo, Matthew Shlomowitz, Theresa Wong, Jannik Giger, Sky Macklay, and Eric Wubbels.

Splinter Reeds

Splinter Reeds is the Bay Area’s first reed quintet comprising five virtuosic musicians with a shared passion for new music. The ensemble is committed to presenting top tier performances of today’s best contemporary composition, showcasing the vast possibilities of the reed quintet, and commissioning new works through collaboration with fellow musicians and artists. Splinter Reeds formed in 2013 with the coming together of five colleagues highly active in the vibrant Bay Area music scene: Kyle Bruckmann (oboe), Bill Kalinkos (clarinet), David Wegehaupt (saxophone), Jeff Anderle (bass clarinet), and Dana Jessen (bassoon). Their dynamic instrumentation is an evolutionary detour from the traditional woodwind quintet with the advantages of a more closely related instrument family.

Explicitly committed to the cutting edge of contemporary composition, Splinter Reeds freely juxtaposes multiple styles and aesthetics in their programming in order to enthusiastically share adventurous new music with the widest possible audience. The quintet has worked closely with such composers as Eric Wubbels, Marc Mellits, and Ken Ueno, while presenting North American premieres by European-based composers Dai Fujikura, Matthew Shlomowitz, and Yannis Kyriakides, among others. Based in Oakland, CA, the ensemble maintains an active performing and teaching schedule at festivals, chamber music series, and educational institutions across the country. Highlights from recent seasons include engagements at the Mondavi Center for Performing Arts, Frequency Series at Chicago’s Constellation, Festival of New American Music, Stanford University’s CCRMA, Switchboard Music Festival, Lawrence Conservatory of Music, Northwestern University, San Francisco Center for New Music, and the April in Santa Cruz Festival of Contemporary Music.

The ensemble’s debut album, Got Stung (2015), features two of their own commissions and four premiere recordings. The self-released album, on Splinter Records, comprises new works for reed quintet by composers Marc Mellits, Erik DeLuca, Ryan Brown, Kyle Bruckmann, Ned McGowan and Jordan Glenn.

The commission of Sky Macklay’s Choppy has been made possible by the Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Program, with generous funding provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Chamber Music America Endowment Fund.

Indexical’s concerts in Santa Cruz are supported in part by the Arts Council of Santa Cruz County.