Zéphyros Winds

Saxton is a member of Zéphyros Winds, an acclaimed wind quintet based in New York City. Now in its 25th season, Zéphyros is one of America’s distinguished chamber ensembles. Bringing together five of the finest wind virtuosos of their generation (Jennifer Grim, flute; Fatma Daglar, oboe; Marianne Gythfeldt, clarinet; Zohar Schondorf, horn; and Saxton Rose, bassoon), Zéphyros Winds made its New York concerto debut opening the 2004 Mostly Mozart Festival and has appeared at the nation’s most prestigious concert venues, including The Library of Congress, Wolf Trap, Carnegie’s Weill Hall, Dumbarton Oaks, Duke Performances at Duke University, “The Movado Hour” at The Baryshnikov Art Center in New York City, Da Camera Society of Los Angeles, Skaneateles Festival, and Lincoln Center’s “Great Performers Series.”

In 2010, Zéphyros performed in Beijing, China at the National Centre for the Performing Arts’ May Festival. The Philadelphia Museum of Art engaged Zéphyros to create a program complimenting their exhibition, “Manet and the Sea,” and at the invitation of the French Embassy in Washington, DC, Zéphyros performed a gala concert celebrating the centenary of Francis Poulenc’s birth. Numerous Radio broadcasts include “Performance Today” for National Public Radio, Public Radio International’s “Music from Chautauqua,” and WNYC’s “Around New York.” Their live recording of Irving Fine’s “Partita for Woodwind Quintet,” was released on Bridge Records. Zéphyros has given master classes at The Yale University School of Music, The Juilliard School, The Eastman School of Music, and the Idyllwild Arts Academy.

Taking its name from the Greek god of the West Wind, Zéphyros Winds first gained national attention in 1995, when, one year after its formation, it won both the First and Grand Prizes at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, becoming the first wind quintet in the competition’s 22-year history to do so. They made their New York debut in 1997 at Merkin Concert Hall, and began extensive touring throughout the United States.

Zéphyros performances encompass the repertoire for wind quintet, works for winds and piano, winds and strings, and from solo players through wind ensemble.

Praise for Zéphyros Winds

“Zéphyros played with impeccable precision and rapt lyricism.”
— The Chicago Sun Times

“The concert was truly an exquisite musical experience.”
— Asheville Citizen-Times

“ensemble so well blended that it glowed from within”
— Classical Voice of North Carolina

Zéphyros played with passion, total commitment and in one voice.”
— The Daily Gazette

“Zéphyros is a virtuoso group. No doubt its vigorous and enthusiastic approach to music-and the lively banter with which it entertains an audience between numbers-has something to do with its popularity.”
— The Washington Post

Is there a more inherently colorful ensemble than the wind quintet? The players infused this reading with unified phrasing, feathery releases, meticulous intonation, and mellifluous execution of the meandering lines. They played with the depth of sound and the assured, communicative élan that you expect from a seasoned chamber ensemble. Overall, the playing was persuasive, cohesive, and overflowing with mature artistry. This is a special ensemble.”
— San Francisco Classical Voice

This ensemble deserves such superlatives as ‘brilliant,’ ‘stunning,’ ‘masterful.’ Szervánszky created an exuberant and impressive work which Zéphyros presented with brilliance and precision.”
— The Shelter Island Reporter

This young ensemble could convince you that the sound of music in heaven is a delicately blended and balanced ensemble of flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon.”
— The Washington Post

The interpretation of Mozart’s Quintet in E-flat, K.452, for piano and winds, had extraordinary clarity and was a model of the application of classical style.”
— Classical Voice of North Carolina

The ensemble created a near-symphonic sound.”
— The New London Day

Grim and Gythfeldt were the fabulous soloists in Elliott Carter’s very cool “Esprit Rude/Esprit Doux” (1984). …the duo were virtuosic and in complete control of the give and take gestures and especially of capturing the piece’s humor.”
— The Daily Gazette

Samuel Barber gave his “Summer Music” no program, just the evocative title. Listening to the piece, you can make up your own program. Languid nights. Insect sounds. Children at play. A distant dance. Those and other images drifted past as the Zephyros Winds played Barber’s quintet Saturday night at Tannery Pond. The work’s melancholy beauty (or its it beautiful melancholy?) was mirrored in the well-wrought performance.”
— The Berkshire Eagle

All five had seemingly effortless virtuosity with their instruments, solid intonation, subtly matched dynamics and phrasing, brilliant solos as needed but otherwise seamlessly blended.”
— Classical Voice of North Carolina

In a savvy tie-in with the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s current “Manet and the Sea’ exhibit, the Zephyros Wind Quintet, with added piano and harp, will offer some sea-inspired chamber works by Debussy, Ravel and Roussel.”
— The Phildelphia Daily News