Contact Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings

Detroit's Best Chamber Music Ensemble

Founded in 1982, Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings is an ensemble committed to bringing to life the large and wonderful body of repertoire that utilizes between six and 20 musicians. Many of these works go largely unheard in professional concert halls due to their unusual instrumentation. Originally focusing on music for wind and brass players, the organization has recently expanded to encompass an outstanding component of string instrumentalists.

Supplementing its local subscription season with both recording and touring, Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings has established a national reputation for artistic excellence. Outstanding critical notice has been garnered from numerous sources, including Stereo Review, Chamber Music, BBC Music Magazine, The New York Times, Audio, the Indianapolis Star, and all of Detroit's major media.

Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings celebrated its 20th Anniversary with a week of concerts in Switzerland, highlighted by a featured performance at the 10th conference of the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE). Other recent touring activities include appearances in Ohio, New York, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Texas and New Mexico. Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings has worked with a variety of guest artists, including Ruth Laredo, Ida Kavafian, James Tocco, Ani Kavafian, Julius Baker, Paul Schoenfield, Seymour Lipkin, Peter Oundjian and Miriam Fried.

The organization is committed to expanding the repertoire, and has annually mounted a world-premiere by a different composer of national stature. Included on the list of composers whose works have been premiered are Michael Daugherty, William Thomas McKinley, Evan Chambers, Eric Ewazen, David Dzubay, John Thow, Jonathan Berger, Robert Maggio, Anthony Iannaccone and many others.

Educational programs have always been central to the mission of Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings. For the past several years, its musicians have made 50 visits annually to the Southfield Schools. Previous residency hosts include the Waterford Schools, the Detroit Public Schools, and the Youth Music Programs of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. In addition, a series of young person's concerts are performed at various locations throughout the year. Support for DCWS educational programs comes from the National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music America, and Denso Automotive. Denso, located in Southfield, is a Japanese auto parts supplier company and this is the first grant of its kind going to support a music organization

In collaboration with St. Hugo of the Hills, Kirk in the Hills, and Temple Beth El, Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings is a sponsor of the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival. DCWS administers the Festival, but as of late 2004, the Festival, which once operated as a “dba” of DCWS, became its own tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization.

The ensemble has also collaborated with virtually all of the area's leading arts organizations, including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Michigan Opera Theatre, Lyric Chamber Ensemble, Detroit Oratorio Society, Rackham Symphony Choir, the Detroit Institute of Arts, Meadow Brook Hall, Birmingham Community House, and the College for Creative Studies.

Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings is recognized as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Service Code.