Reference Recordings is proud to present our first album with the Carnegie Mellon Wind Ensemble, conducted and produced by George Vosburgh.

Carnegie Mellon Wind Ensemble traces its roots to the Carnegie Tech Kiltie Band, founded in 1908. Over the years, the Kiltie Band grew and enjoyed a long and distinguished history as a concert band. For decades, it was the preeminent performing ensemble at the University, appearing regularly in concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City. In modern times, single players perform each instrumental part, emulating an orchestral wind section. This style of playing in a large ensemble allows for the tonal colours found in a symphony orchestra.

Unusual and underperformed repertoire has long been a hallmark of the ensemble’s programming. This album exemplifies that, with the pairing of Strauss’s 1945 Sonatina for Winds in E flat major (The Happy Workshop) and his 1881 Serenade for Winds in E flat major, op.7. Notes writer Amanda Vosburgh states: “Taken together, the Serenade op.7 and The Happy Workshop form the bookends to a long and diverse body of work, marked by innovative chromaticism and complexity, but tethered at either end to the classical tradition.”

Conductor George Vosburgh has enjoyed a long and multifaceted international career as a soloist, orchestral musician, teacher, and conductor. He holds a Grammy for his 1985 Reference Recordings release of L’Histoire du Soldat with Chicago Pro Musica, and is a laureate of the ARD Music Competition in Munich. From 1992–2017, he held the Martha Brooks Robinson Principal Trumpet Chair in the Pittsburgh Symphony. He appears on numerous RR albums with Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He has taught at Carnegie Mellon University since 1992 and has been Director of the Carnegie Mellon Wind Ensemble since 2011.

Reference Recordings, founded in 1976 in San Francisco, has multiple Grammy awards and a catalog that includes numerous American and international orchestras, ensembles and choruses. FRESH! is part of Reference Recordings’ mission to encourage unique and fine artists, and give them a strong platform for promotion and sales nationally and internationally.