About
The Breaking Winds Bassoon Quartet is an innovative chamber ensemble that pushes the limits of creativity and entertainment in instrumental music. Brittany Harrington, Yuki Katayama, Kara LaMoure, and Lauren Yu met while studying bassoon performance at the Eastman School of Music, and their extracurricular project of playing quartets quickly developed into a dynamic schedule of high-energy performances. BWBQ shows feature a broad range of music accompanied by skits, costumes, props, drumming, and dancing. With a focus on comedy, the Breaking Winds promote music as a connective force that can excite, inspire, and heal.
The Breaking Winds are committed to performing original arrangements, compositions, and transcriptions. No genre or style is safe from the hand of group members, who continually generate new material from the music of classical composers, pop musicians, indie rock bands, classic rock bands, tangos, the blues, and even electronic DJs. The result is an enormous repertoire unique to the group, with no two performances alike. Sheet music to arrangements and compositions by the members of the quartet are published as BWBQ Editions through Trevco Music Publishing.
Advocates of music education, the Breaking Winds perform for students across the United States, most recently with tours in Chicago, New Haven, CT, and Dallas-Fort Worth. Their performances cover all levels of education from preschool to university, and their school visits have included discussions with students, master classes for young bassoonists, and even collaborations with student instrumentalists. In March 2012, the Breaking Winds performed as soloists with high school bands from Buffalo, NY at the Williamsville Concert Band Festival. As educators, they have also served as artists-in-residence and faculty members at Bocal Majority Bassoon Camp in Houston, TX. In the greater community, the BWBQ perform at independent living centers, pubs, pizza places, and train stations, to name a few.
The Breaking Winds maintain an active web presence. Their Youtube channel contains an extensive library of music videos, live performances, and “behind-the-scenes” footage. In 2010, a video of the BWBQ performing “Lady Gaga Saga” went viral and generated press buzz from such varied sources as NPR, Billboard.com, WQXR, The Aspen Institute, and Hollywood blogger Perez Hilton. The group regularly adds new performances to their channel and interfaces with their audience via Facebook and Twitter.
In February 2013, the Breaking Winds will premiere a concerto for bassoon quartet and wind ensemble composed for the group by Scott Switzer with the Yale Concert Band. Their first
album, Breaking In, will be released in March 2013. The album, which will feature an eclectic playlist of the BWBQ’s favorites, was crowdfunded by private backers through the website Kickstarter.com, where the project received overwhelming support and ultimately raised over 500% of its initial fundraising goal. Breaking In will be available through major online CD vendors.