Splinter Reeds
Kyle Bruckmann, oboe
Bill Kalinkos, clarinet
Nicki Roman, saxophone
Jeff Anderle, bass clarinet
Dana Jessen, bassoon
Program
Niloufar Nourbakhsh: Firing Squad (2018)
Zoë A. Wallace: Shards WORLD PREMIERE
Phillip Sink: Shove WORLD PREMIERE
—Intermission—
Trey Makler: can’t live with(out) you WORLD
PREMIERE
Shahrzad Talebi: What will remain? WORLD
PREMIERE
Zachary James Watkins: Treatment V
Free
About Splinter Reeds
Splinter Reeds is the West Coast’s first reed quintet, comprising
five innovative musicians with a shared passion for new music.
The ensemble is committed to presenting top tier performances of
today’s best contemporary composition, showcasing the vast
possibilities of the reed quintet, commissioning new works, and
collaborating with fellow musicians and artists.
As a relatively new chamber music genre, the reed quintet is an
evolutionary detour from the traditional woodwind quintet with
the advantages of a more closely related instrument family.
Distinguishing themselves amongst even the relatively small
number of professional reed quintets currently active worldwide,
the ensemble is explicitly dedicated to cutting-edge composition
and expanding the existing reed quintet repertoire through the
collaborative development of new works by emerging and
established composers.
Splinter Reeds formed in 2013 with the coming together of five
colleagues highly active in multiple facets new music. The
ensemble includes: Kyle Bruckmann (oboe), Bill Kalinkos
(clarinet), Nicki Roman (saxophone), Jeff Anderle (bass
clarinet), and Dana Jessen (bassoon). The sum of their wide
ranges of experience—in settings including free jazz,
improvisation, electronic music, pop, punk and metal as well as
classical—has enabled them to rapidly zero in on a distinct
aesthetic identity.
Recent concert engagements have included performances at New York
City’s TIME:SPANS Festival, Dublin’s Music Current Festival,
Chicago’s Constellation, San Francisco’s Fort Mason Center,
Vancouver New Music, the Mondavi Performing Arts Center, Berkeley
Art Museum, Festival of New American Music, Other Minds: The
Nature of Music Series, and the Presidio Sessions series.
Additionally, they have held residencies at universities across
the country including Stanford, Northwestern, Wesleyan, Miami
University, UC-Berkeley, Boston Conservatory, UC Davis and the
San Francisco Conservatory of Music, among several others. The
ensemble has received grant awards from Chamber Music America,
New Music USA, the Alice M. Ditson Fund at Columbia University,
the Zellerbach Family Foundation, and the San Francisco Friends
of Chamber Music. Splinter Reeds is fiscally sponsored through
InterMusic SF.
The Department of Music and the Mondavi Center for the Performing
Arts at UC Davis present the 2025 Taproot New
Music Festival, with the majority of the concerts taking place
November 6–9. During this traditionally biennial festival, nine
participating composers will work with exceptional
artists to produce new works.
Featured Ensembles
Dal Niente
Michael Lewanski, conductor
Ensemble Dal Niente performs, develops, and sustains new and
experimental music for small to large chamber ensemble. Dal
Niente is dedicated to growing relationships with artists,
composers, and listeners; advancing distinct and challenging
musical voices; and sharing that work with their Chicago, United
States, and international communities. Four composers will
work with Dal Niente:
Sam Nichols, director
Professor of Teaching, Department of Music
Matilda Hofman, conductor-in-residence
Continuing Lecturer, Department of Music
Ensemble-in-residence at UC Davis, the Empyrean Ensemble presents
engaging and eclectic programs, inviting audiences to experience
new musical sensations delivered with high artistry by its
extraordinary players—among the finest new music performers in
California. Four composers will work with Empyrean:
Christian Baldini, music director and conductor
Professor of Music, Department of Music
The UC Davis Symphony Orchestra is a university student and
community orchestra in residence at the Mondavi Center — equally
committed to performing the most provocative music of the
orchestral repertoire and the work of living composers at UC
Davis and from afar.
Mission
The Taproot New Music Festival brings together a diverse group of
composers and performers, both local and visiting, and gives them
the chance to hear new work, and to make lasting connections. A
biennial festival at UC Davis, it features concerts and other
events, and also creates the opportunity for our students to work
alongside exceptional artists. Actively inclusive and
participatory, Taproot broadcasts a unique vision of how to
sustain a musical community.
Trey Makler (b. 1994) is a musical
storyteller. His music creates dramatic, poignant narratives
that take the listener on unexpected journeys through memories of
hope, play, struggle, and triumph. Aside from composing,
he enjoys writing poetry, doodling, and organizing concerts.
He is a doctoral candidate in composition and theory at the
University of California, Davis, and holds degrees from the
Juilliard School and the University of Missouri. His
primary teachers have included Mika Pelo, Melinda Wagner, Stefan
Freund, and W. Thomas McKenney.
Zoë A. Wallace (b. 1994) is a composer and guitarist currently
based in Northern California. She has performed in concerts
throughout the country and has had pieces performed and/or
recorded by such performers as PinkNoise Ensemble, Wendy Richman,
KAIA String Quartet, Confluss Duo, Splinter Reeds, Nick May,
Nicholas Tolle, and the Alena Walentin and Niklas Johansen duo.
In 2024 and 2022, Zoë was a recipient of the ASCAP Plus Award.
