High five: Woodwind Quintet has uplifting sound

Kimberley McGee

Friday, April 27, 2001 | 9:21 a.m.

The high note of the flute leads the Las Vegas Woodwind Quintet into the lilting sounds of its opening number, the classic composer Anton Reicha's "Opus 100."

"We try to show the history of music in our programs," said Dave Hawley, clarinet player and leader of the quintet. "It's a little different that way."

The quintet will play Reicha's 18th-century composition Sunday at the Reed Whipple Cultural Center. It will end its 90-minute concert with "I Got Rhythm" by 20th century composer George Gershwin.

"It's more of a potpourri this time," Hawley said. "Samuel Barber is the main work on the program. We sandwiched it between Reicha and Gershwin because they are easy and familiar" to audiences.

Barber is one of the top four or five woodwind quintet composers recognized in the music world as classics, such as Paul Hindemith and Carl Nielson, who wrote during the 18th and 19th centuries when woodwind quintets were first established.

Hawley chose the music specifically for the local audience, which ranges from the classically inclined to musical novices testing the woodwind waters.

This incarnation of the group has played together since October and each brings extensive musical training to the quintet.

The four other members include Sam Pisciotta, a Las Vegas musician since 1967, on bassoon; Sherrie Parker, orchestra manager for the Henderson Civic Symphony, on principal flute; Doug Beasley, a member of the Las Vegas Philharmonic and band director at Greenspun Middle School, on French horn; and Yvonne Breton, a member of the Henderson Symphony, on oboe.

"It takes time to find the groove," Hawley said. "But it's almost like different voices that come together in each instrument with different characteristics and make beautiful music."

Each member plays an intricate piece of the composition, yet blend the notes as an orchestra would -- only on a smaller scale.

"The quintet is so intimate," Hawley said. "We are soloists, generally, but playing together."

Pisciotta and Hawley have played showrooms in Las Vegas since the late '60s. They joined the Las Vegas Woodwind Quintet in 1995 when fellow woodwind player Mary Walters annexed a group of professional musicians as well as friends from the Las Vegas Civic Orchestra to play woodwind instruments only. (A woodwind instrument is any instrument which historically used a wooden reed in the mouthpiece.)

"It's great to be able to play with the musicians of the caliber that these guys are," Pisciotta said.

It may surprise some to find that high-quality musicians call Las Vegas home, said Parker.

"I think people would expect this caliber of musicians in a larger city such as Los Angeles or back East," she said. "Not here."

The quintet is planning a series of concerts in conjunction with the Clark County Library District to begin in the fall of 2002. It will also appear again at Reed Whipple, but has yet to schedule dates.

"We love this. We aren't stopping," Hawley said. "This is my favorite thing to do in all the world."