Description
Programme:
Iša Krejčí Wind Quintet
Gustav Holst Wind Quintet in Aflat major Op.14
György Ligeti Six Bagatelles
Jean Françaix L’heure du berger Op.20
II. Pin-up girls
Werner Pirchner Streichquartett für Bläserquintett
Georges Bizet Act II Entracte (from ‘Carmen’) arr.David Walter
Jean Françaix Wind Quartet
Amy Beach Pastorale For Wind Quintet Op.151
Malcolm Arnold Three Shanties Op.4
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Le Vol du Bourdon arr.David Walter
This programme traces the astonishing versatility of wind instruments as storytellers—moving from wit and mischief to introspection, from sparkling virtuosity to refined lyricism. A vibrant and wide-ranging programme, it explores the wind-quintet repertoire from early 20th-century tradition to bold contemporary colour.
The first half explores how 20th-century composers reinvented the wind-quintet tradition. Krejčí and Ligeti push the ensemble to its expressive extremes, distilling drama and humour into compact, high-energy movements. Holst offers a contrasting early-modern warmth, revealing the winds’ capacity for elegance, spacious melody, and classical balance.
After the interval the focus turns to imagination and transformation—music that recasts familiar forms in unexpected colours. Françaix’s sly wit, Pirchner’s bold reworking of string-quartet language, and David Walter’s vivid operatic transcriptions all show the winds acting as chameleons: playful, theatrical, and sonorous by turns. Moments of gentle lyricism from Amy Beach and the rollicking good humour of Malcolm Arnold highlight the ensemble’s expressive breadth, while the closing whirlwind showcases pure, adrenaline-fuelled virtuosity.
Overall, the programme celebrates the wind ensemble as a medium of both refinement and exuberance—capable of intimacy, drama, and dazzling flair.
About the Performers
Lumas Winds are committed ambassadors for wind chamber music and the rich variety of repertoire it offers. As winners of the 71st Royal Over-Seas League Mixed Ensemble Prize, and regularly featuring at festivals and music clubs up and down the UK, they have firmly established themselves as a group to watch and have been described as an ‘effervescent wind quintet, lively in their performance style and enterprising in their choice of repertoire’ (Seen and Heard International).
The ensemble released their debut album, The Naming of Birds, in May 2024 for Champs Hill records. The disc highlights their passion as advocates for works that deserve recognition and was described by Andrew McGregor as ‘an excellent and highly enjoyable survey of the British wind quintet from the early 1960s into this century’ (BBC Radio 3, Record Review). Six hidden gems feature from each decade from 1960 to 2010 including three world premiere recordings by Beamish, Higgins, and Maconchy. Prior to recording, the group won the Royal Academy of Music’s Historical Women Composers Prize for their performance of the Elizabeth Maconchy Wind Quintet (1980) after a worthwhile visit to the Maconchy archive based within St Hilda’s, Oxford. The recording received five star reviews from both BBC Music Magazine and the online journal Pizzicato.
They are currently featured young artists with the Countess of Munster Recital Scheme as well as the Kirckman Concerts Society, the latter of which saw them make their King’s Place debut in May 2025 – here they performed the semi-theatrical Opus Number Zoo by Luciano Berio from memory. Prior to this, the group were Tunnell Trust Young Artists, taking them on a tour of Scottish music clubs in February 2024; Britten Pears Young Artists, which provided them with a week long residency in Snape Maltings, exploring various contemporary works with the Montreal-based Qautuor Bozzini, as well as the performance of a newly commissioned work by composer Marcello Palazzo; and Philip and Dorothy Green Young Artists through Making Music.
Most recently they have been made ‘Ensemble in Association’ at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama where they give concerts, coaching sessions, and side-by-side performing experiences.
The group has featured at the Budleigh, Buxton, Corbridge, Gower, Ironstone, Lake District, North Norfolk Peasmarsh, and Winchester chamber music festivals. This has included several performances of Poulenc’s Sextet alongside the likes of pianists Benjamin Frith, Huw Watkins, and Shai Wosner. As well as collaborations with other esteemed musicians including Anthony Marwood, Lucy Gould, Ralph de Souza, Grace Park, Hélène Clement, Rosalind Ventris, Richard Lester, John Myerscough, Kate Gould, and Philip Nelson. They made their Wigmore Hall debut in June 2023 with an energised performance of Lalo Schifrin’s La Nouvelle Orleans, a piece they continue to champion.
Lumas evolved through friendships formed at the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, with the ensemble being established in 2018. This has resulted in a strong bond between its members, carrying the group forward with confidence in its shared vision. The group presents diverse and varied programmes, framing lesser known works alongside classics of the canon, and their concerts embrace verbal introductions which illuminate the thinking behind their fresh and eclectic approach.