Ma'alot Quintett

The Ma'alot Quintett, often billed in English as the Ma'alot Wind Quintet, is among Germany's most prominent wind chamber ensembles. The group has a large repertory that includes standard works, arrangements of music from various periods by the group's members, and plenty of contemporary pieces. The Ma'alot Quintett was formed in 1986. The group's name means "harmony and concord" in Hebrew and was suggested by a statue in Cologne by an Israeli sculptor that has that title. Its members are flutist Stephanie Winkler, oboist Christian Wetzel, clarinetist Ulf-Guido Schäfer, hornist Volker Grewel, and bassoonist Volker Tessmann. The group's membership has remained stable since Schäfer joined in 2007. All of the players are teachers at major German universities or perform in German orchestras or both. Touring, Wetzel told Utah's Deseret News, is "a nice way for us to be together for a longer period of time. We don't get that chance otherwise, because of our orchestra jobs." The Ma'alot Quintett has toured the U.S. as well as Europe, appearing at such prestigious venues as the National Gallery of Art, the Library of Congress, and the Chamber Music Society of Salt Lake City. The quintet performs 19th century wind quintet works, sometimes adding players for larger chamber pieces such as the Nonet, Op. 77, of George Onslow. It also offers a wide variety of contemporary works, either originally written for winds or in arrangements; the latter group includes the group's versions of tangos by Astor Piazzolla, which it often performs in concert. The group's recordings are similarly varied. The Ma'alot Quintett released an album of Franz Danzi's wind quintets on the Berlin Classics label in 1993 and has since recorded for the audiophile label MDG (where albums of music by Dvořák and Rossini earned ECHO Klassik awards in Germany), for CPO, and CAvi-music, where, in 2020, it released an album of Beethoven's music for piano and winds, featuring Markus Becker on piano.
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