| HOME | ABOUT | CONTRIBUTE | EVENTS | TICKETS | OUTREACH | CONTACT |
Passionate about chamber music for winds and community education and connection, three musicians (Robin Garner, Jeff Strong and Mayve Strong) founded Camerata Winds in 2004. The organization has experienced steady growth since that time thanks in part to the leadership and service of the artistic director, organization's boards, personnel and volunteers. We invite you to learn more about our organization and leadership here!
Leadership
Artistic Director
Boards
Personnel
Volunteer ProgramWhat is Camerata Winds’ mission?
To inspire through up-close and personal performances of chamber music for winds,
to enlighten all generations about music and music performance, and
to engage the community by providing opportunities to support and promote the arts.What makes Camerata Winds unique?
Camerata Winds’ focus is on chamber music for wind players, specifically on repertoire for mid-sized ensembles not represented regularly by larger groups such as the Dallas Wind Symphony or smaller organizations such as Texas Winds or Fine Arts Chamber Players. Audience interaction with the conductor and musicians is encouraged as well as education about chamber wind literature and music performance. Diverse programming for all ages well serves Dallas residents.What type of music do the Camerata Winds perform?
Camerata’s repertoire features classical music written for mid-sized ensembles of wind instruments. The group stages works for five to fifteen players, working with other organizations including the Dallas Symphony, Dallas Opera and SMU faculty to expand instrumentation when strings, brass, piano, or voice are needed. Every concert includes works by composers familiar to the average concertgoer, such as Mozart, Beethoven, Copland, and Strauss, as well as newer works the group feels would appeal to their audiences. Outreach ensembles expand their repertoire to include “pop” standards and patriotic tunes.Does Camerata Winds provide outreach programs?
Yes! Camerata Winds ensures accessibility to the arts for Dallas’ oldest and youngest residents through a variety of outreach programs, including an informational four concert series for seniors and their families at Grace Presbyterian Village, and community, educational, and private concerts scheduled throughout the metroplexWhere are the performances?
The Camerata Winds perform its subscription concerts at the First United Lutheran Church, 6202 East Mockingbird Lane, in Dallas. In addition, they also perform in schools, churches, other community venues and for private and corporate events: the ensemble donates services for charitable causes as possible.How much do tickets cost?
To make concerts as accessible as possible for the community, ticket prices are kept to a minimum: $20 for adults, $16 for seniors, and $8 for children. Discounts are available for subscription and group sales: music students may earn free tickets through our practice card program. See ticketing for details.Who supports this organization?
Camerata Winds is a 501(c)3 organization. Ticket sales, subscriptions, an auction fundraiser, and corporate sponsors support Camerata Winds. Corporate sponsors for the 2006-2007 season included the City of Dallas’ Office of Cultural Affairs, McIntosh & Associates, Southwest Airlines, and Target.Does Camerata Winds collaborate with other musical organizations?
Camerata Winds has performed by invitation with the Dallas Chamber Orchestra. Likewise, Camerata Winds invites guest musicians from other area ensembles (Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Opera Orchestra, Southern Methodist University, Texas Women’s University and University of North Texas) to expand the ensemble’s instrumentation to include brass, strings, piano, and percussion. Camerata has performed outreach concerts to benefit organizations such as the Dallas Library, Operation Care Homeless Ministry, Lake Highlands Exchange Club, Collin County Children’s Advocacy Center and Lake Highlands Elementary School. The group has also performed regularly as lobby entertainment for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and enjoys advisory board participation with professionals from area businesses and arts organizations.This is a great asset to the community. How can I get involved?
First, we’d love for you to experience a performance first-hand! Bring a friend and enjoy an evening of intimate chamber music with us.If you’d like to become a Friend of the Winds, consider making a financial contribution yourself or through your company: all donations to our non-profit organization are tax-deductible and greatly appreciated. They support our incredible talent and product as well and facilitate community outreach efforts. Unless marked for a specific purpose (to underwrite a specific musician or program), contributions go into our general fund.
Donations of time and talent are also welcome! Volunteers assist with concert production, reception organization, marketing efforts, and increasing our contacts within the community.
History top
Passionate about chamber music for winds and community education, three musicians founded Camerata Winds, Inc. in July 2004. The organization’s mission is:
To inspire through up-close and personal performances of chamber music for winds,
to enlighten all generations about music and music performance, and
to engage the community by providing opportunities to support and promote the arts.Camerata Winds fills an important niche in the Dallas area arts community by performing works for mid-sized chamber ensembles not represented regularly by other groups. The ensemble provides exceptional, up-close-and-personal performances in family-friendly settings. In its first season, Camerata Winds served approximately 600 people through two subscription and six outreach programs, a fall concert/auction and a collaborative concert with the Dallas Chamber Orchestra. Over the past three years, Camerata Winds’ audience has grown to over 4,000 people from diverse economic and socio-economic backgrounds; the subscriber base has also grown steadily. The 2006-2007 season expanded exponentially with the addition of the Grace Presbyterian series and the awarding of a Target grant supporting 6+ educational concerts. The organization has remained fiscally responsible, functioning on donations of time provided by volunteers, musicians and a musician-based board. It has grown artistically as well, adding three Dallas Symphony Orchestra musicians to its core ensemble of 10 players, and garnering excellent critical reviews annually.
The founding board members continue to serve on the volunteer board of directors. In addition to their musical skills, their experience encompasses the fields of finance, social work, music therapy, music education, and information services. Their experience with nonprofits includes Camerata Winds and other local organizations. Artistic Director Danail Rachev and a community advisory board support the board of directors. Active since Camerata Winds’ inception, the advisory board includes members from area arts organizations and businesses who meet at least quarterly with the board to offer guidance based on their successes in marketing, fundraising, program development, sound business practice, and in developing and maintaining nonprofit chamber ensembles.
Camerata Winds looks forward to a bright future in the Dallas arts community.
Artistic Director top
Danail Rachev
Camerata Winds welcomes new Artistic Director Danail Rachev. Mr. Rachev guest conducted the ensemble during the 2006-2007 season and succeeds founding Artistic Director James Rives-Jones, who provided exceptional guidance to the organization from 2004 until his death in 2007.
A Bulgarian native, Mr. Rachev brings a passion for chamber music and community connection to the ensemble along with his exceptional talent as a conductor and coach. He was named Assistant Conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in 2005, where he leads classical concerts, pops programs, and family concerts, as well as school and outreach programs. His debut full-length classical concert earned raves in The Dallas Morning News: “One of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra's best concerts of the past year.…start to finish, assistant conductor Danail Rachev got the music unfailingly right, and viscerally compelling.” This season, Mr. Rachev will continue his duties at the DSO and also leads concerts with the Cleveland City Music Chamber Orchestra as guest conductor.
In 2002-2003 Mr. Rachev was the first ever conducting fellow of the New World Symphony in Miami, FL, where he was fortunate to study with Maestro Michael Tilson Thomas and share the podium with him on several occasions. His debut and subsequent appearances in numerous subscription and chamber music concerts were met with consistent critical acclaim. He was recognized by the Florida Sun-Sentinel for his “vigorous, boldly projected” and “fluent and sensitive” conducting, and the Miami Herald called his reading of Mozart’s Six German Dances, K. 509 “the evening's most spirited performance.”
Previously, Mr. Rachev served as conductor of the Juilliard PreCollege Symphony from 2002-2005. In the 2003 season, in addition to a performance with the Juilliard PreCollege Symphony in Alice Tully Hall, Mr. Rachev led performances of Copland's The Tender Land with Baltimore’s Opera Vivente. The Baltimore Sun noted that he “shaped that score tellingly, revealing particular appreciation for its gentlest, most introspective moments.” Mr. Rachev’s recent positions also include cover conductor of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, assistant conductor of the Columbia Orchestra (MD), Associate Director of Orchestras at Baltimore School for the Arts, and assistant conductor for the Baltimore Opera Company in productions of Elektra, Eugene Onegin, and La Cenerentola. Mr. Rachev has appeared as guest conductor in Europe with the Bulgarian State Musical Academy Orchestra, Sofia Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra Epoques (Sofia) and has also led productions of Don Pasquale and Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Russe State Opera.
During the summer of 2002, Mr. Rachev was simultaneously chosen to be an Academy Conductor for the American Academy of Conducting at the Aspen Music Festival and one of four participants in the National Conducting Institute in Washington, D.C. The latter culminated in his well-received debut with the National Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Rachev was a semifinalist in the Inaugural Maazel-Vilar International Conductors' Competition (2001) and a finalist in the Fundação Oriente International Young Conductors Competition in Lisbon, Portugal (2000).
Originally trained at the State Musical Academy in Sofia, where he received degrees in orchestral and choral conducting, Mr. Rachev came to the United States for studies at Peabody Conservatory on full scholarship, graduating in 2000 with the Master of Music in orchestral conducting. His conducting teachers have included Gustav Meier, Michael Tilson Thomas, David Zinman, and Leonard Slatkin. Born and raised in Shumen, Bulgaria, Mr. Rachev resides in Dallas with his wife Elizabeth.
Boards top
Camerata’s board seeks additional community members to share the excitement of Camerata Winds’ growth. If you have time and talents you’d like to share, particularly in the areas of marketing, fundraising, special events or business administration, please contact Robin Garner via email!Working board
President: Robin Garner, L.M.S.W, B.M.T
Freelance MusicianSecretary: Jeff Strong
Software Developer, ACI Worldwide, Inc.Treasurer: Mayve Strong, CPA
Chief Accountant, City of Farmers BranchEducational Specialist: John Hairel
Director of Bands, R.L. Turner High School
Advisory Board
Amanda McIntosh
Musician, Consultant McIntosh & AssociatesDr. Ross Powell
Professor Emeritus, Southern Methodist University/Division of MusicBelinda Senevey, MBA
Controller, Jewish Community Center
Personnel top
Camerata Winds’ core ensemble is a double woodwind quintet consisting of pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons and French horns. Additional wind players are on the roster: collaborations with other professional music organizations expand instrumentation to include brass, piano, strings and voice as programming requires. The ensemble is proud to mentor emerging talent from area universities as possible.
Flutes
Rita Almond
Rita Almond is the flute teacher of a large private studio. She performs with Camerata Winds and Flutes Unlimited. She studied flute performance with Frank Bowen at both Texas Tech University and the University of New Mexico where she obtained a Bachelor of Music. Her Master of Music is from Southern Methodist University where she studied with Claire Johnson and was principal flutist with Dallas Civic Symphony. She is an officer of the Texas Flute society and is on the faculty of Floot Fire. She currently plays less often as a free lancer and spends more time with her three grandchildren: Madison, Makayla, and Caden.Jessica Truax
Jessica is an inspiring performer who is also passionate about her private teaching studio and about helping youth mature both musically and personally. In addition to her work with Camerata Winds, Jessica performs as needed with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. Prior to her move to Dallas, she worked with the New Mexico Symphony and Santa Fe Opera.Oboes
Erin Hannigan
Erin joined the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in 2001 after performing with the Rochester Philharmonic for 7 years: she has been Acting Principal Oboe of the DSO since September 2006. In the summer, she performs as principal oboe with the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego, CA and the Music in the Mountains Festival in Durango, CO. She has performed as principal oboist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic and as a soloist with various orchestras. Erin teaches at Southern Methodist University, and previously served on the faculties of the Eastman School of Music Preparatory Division and the Hochstein Music School, both of Rochester, NY.Kelli Short
Kelli Short is a graduate of Southern Methodist University’s Meadows School of the Arts and Texas Christian University. She is currently playing principal oboe in the Richardson Symphony. Kelli has played with the Ft. Worth Symphony, Shreveport and Longview Symphonies, and Dallas Wind Symphony. She is an active free-lance musician in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, and is a member of Texas Winds Musical Outreach.Clarinets
Mayve Strong
Robin Garner
A founding member of Camerata Winds, Inc., Robin has performed with the Dallas, Colorado and New Orleans Symphonies. She performs with the East Texas and Las Colinas Symphony Orchestras, subs for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and has been a repeat clinician for the Allen Clarinet Solutions festival. Her degrees in music therapy, social work and motherhood inspire her educational writing for Camerata Winds. Robin also enjoys outdoor sports, quilting, trains.
Mayve is a founding member of the Camerata Winds. Prior to coming to the Dallas area, she lived and performed in the Midwest, where she studied with some of the clarinet world’s preeminent performers. She has worked as a band director and taught clarinet and piano privately. Multi-talented Mayve is currently employed by the City of Farmers Branch as Chief Accountant.Bassoons
Casey Gsell
Jeff Strong
Casey Gsell is a graduate student of Wilfred Roberts at SMU. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music and the North Carolina School of the Arts, she has performed with the National Repertory Orchestra, the International Festival-Institute at Round Top, and the Tulsa Opera. An experienced chamber musician, Casey was a semifinalist in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. She has organized and performed many outreach and non-traditional venue concerts, in addition to working as a teaching artist for Young Audiences of America. She currently teaches bassoon and yoga in the Dallas area.
Another founding member, Jeff spends his days as a software developer with ACI Worldwide, Inc. He is principal bassoonist with the Allen Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra and teaches privately in the Carrollton area. When not making bassoon reeds, he enjoys his family and an occasional fishing trip.French horns
Nicole Cash
Nicole Cash joined the Dallas Symphony in 2001. She earned a master of music from Rice University and a bachelor of music cum laude from Northwestern University. She has served as co-principal horn with the Kwa-Zulu Natal Symphony (South Africa) and as an extra musician for the Houston, San Antonio, New World (Florida) and Honolulu symphonies. She has performed in several festivals, including the Grand Teton Music Festival (Jackson Hole, Wyoming) and the Jerusalem International Symphony Orchestra Festival. She was also the winner of the Rice University Concerto Competition and the Music Academy of the West Concerto Competition in 2000.Scott Strong
Scott currently studies at Southern Methodist University with Gregory Hustis, the Principal Horn of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. He attended the Sewanee Summer music festival for four years, the Chautauqua Music Festival for one year, and has been a member of Camerata Winds for two seasons. In addition to his studies, Scott freelances and maintains a small teaching studio. He enjoys baseball and spending time with friends and family.
Volunteer Program topCamerata Winds’ welcomes volunteers of all ages to its volunteer program! Interested in lending your time and talent to our nonprofit organization? Please send us an email today!
Camerata’s volunteers include adults, families, university and secondary students who provide event support, including:
box office management,
program note annotation,
stage management, and
receptions for concerts.Volunteers also lend their talents in other areas:
fundraisers,
website development,
newsletter production, and
outreach programs.The members of the board and advisory board volunteer their time and expertise for the management and operation of the ensemble. Musicians volunteer a percentage of their time to participate in outreach programs (Dallas Library concert, Operation Care event, etc.).
