Downtown with Imani Winds: Amplify

A Free Community Concert
Monday, August 3, 2026 at 5:30 PM
Federated Church of Hyannis, 320 Main Street, Hyannis*

Imani Winds

• Brandon Patrick George, flute
• Mekhi Gladden, oboe
• Mark Dover, clarinet
• Kevin Newton, horn
• Monica Ellis, bassoon

Celebrating nearly three decades of transformative music-making, the GRAMMY®-winning and four-time nominated Imani Winds has led both a revolution and an evolution of the wind quintet. The first release from their Imani Winds Media, a record label spotlighting artists of color, Jeff Scott’s Passion for Bach and Coltrane won a GRAMMY® in 2024. They performed on the album with the Harlem Quartet, who will also appear at this year’s Festival.

Imani Winds is known for their dynamic playing, adventurous programming, imaginative collaborations, and impactful outreach. They’ve appeared at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Banff Centre, and Chautauqua Institution, and toured internationally, inspiring audiences of all ages around the globe. Gramophone praised the ensemble’s “hot rapport [that] churns with conviction throughout.”

Imani Winds will perform a wide range of exciting wind quintets from across the centuries, beginning with Felix Mendelssohn’s Scherzo from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. They’ll play Pacquito D’Rivera’s A Little Cuban Waltz, written for them and commissioned by the Imani Winds Foundation. The evening also includes Elliott Carter’s 1948 wind quintet, the late Lalo Schifrin’s La Nouvelle Orleans from 1987, and Shawn Okpebholo’s Rise, written in 2023. Imani Winds will make this fun summer evening sparkle.

The Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival will present this concert free to the community. All are welcome, and no tickets are required.

“The signature contribution of this group [is] a technical ease with extravagant gestures, intense production of sound, and the daring expressive liberties that come only after musicians have developed a sixth sense of ensemble-bonding. Imani’s got it all.” — The Philadelphia Inquirer

FELIX MENDELSSOHN             (1809 – 1847)
Scherzo from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op. 61
(arranged for wind quintet by Friedrich Gabler)                               

ELLIOTT CARTER                     (1908 – 2012)
Quintet for Winds

PAQUITO D’RIVERA                (b. 1948)                    
A Little Cuban Waltz (written for Imani Winds and commissioned by the Imani Winds Foundation; premiered on June 16, 2023 in New York City)

SHAWN OKPEBHOLO             (b. 1948)                   
Rise

LALO SCHIFRIN                       (1932 – 2025)
La Nouvelle Orleans

*parking is available in the North Street lot, around the corner from the Federated Church