A Summer's Evening with the Crosswinds Concert

crosswinds armillary

The College was delighted to welcome back the Crosswinds ensemble on Monday, 13 June, following their very popular concert last November, to perform in the Hall to an audience of nearly 100 attendees. The concert was the growing brainchild of one of the Crosswinds, Dr Nick Jones, who is a Junior Research Fellow at St Cross and organised by Dr Jo Ashbourn, Senior Tutor (Academic Affairs & Programmes).

The audience enjoyed hearing the Crosswinds, featuring special guest pianist, Mikhail Dubov, play a one-hour programme of music for a summer's evening, exploring repertoire featuring the piano alongside classic woodwind combinations. The programme featured movements from Ludwig Thuille's colourful Sextet for Piano and Wind Quintet in B Major and from the beautiful Quintet K452 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with the dramatic Sextet Opus 40 by 19th century virtuoso pianist and composer Louise Farrenc rounding off the evening.

The full programme is below:

Sextet in B Op. 6 – Ludwig Thuille

Allegro Moderato

Larghetto

Gavotte: Andante, Quasi Allegretto

Finale: Vivace

Piano interlude

Quintet in E K452 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Larghetto

Woodwind interlude

Sextet in C minor Op. 40 – Louise Farrenc Allegro

The Crosswinds are Oxford-based and started life as a woodwind quintet, but quickly expanded to a nonet in order to take on rarely performed works for larger ensembles. The players have featured in musical groups in Oxfordshire, in Bristol and in Kent. Mikhail Dubov is London-based and is an award winner of the prestigious International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs in Paris.