About the Group

The Aeolian Winds' mission is to share high-quality wind chamber music with the greater Pittsburgh community, bringing the group's members' diverse experiences of their daily lives and chosen professions to the music-making, creating a truly unique ensemble. 

 Dedicated to wind chamber music performance, composition, and promotion, the Aeolian Winds of Pittsburgh was founded in September 2003 by the original University of Pittsburgh Wind Quintet. The group has since expanded to include wind chamber ensembles of varying sizes, and players who are not directly a part of the University community. The group's mission is to integrate high-quality wind music into the greater Pittsburgh community, bringing the group's members' diverse experiences of their daily lives and chosen professions to the music-making, creating a truly unique ensemble. While primarily a wind quintet, the group also performs both smaller and larger-scale wind works, such as trios and dectets, in both public and private venues. 

  The Aeolian Winds are particularly dedicated to performing, featuring, and commissioning works by American composers. The group has performed works by Eric Ewazen, Stephen Foster, Herman Stein, Robert Muczynski, Aaron Copland, Leroy Anderson, and Peter Schickele. They worked with Greg Bartholomew on the commission of his work for wind quintet; they were a consortium member for a work by composer Bill Douglas and gave the Pittsburgh premiere of the work in 2008; they completed the Pittsburgh premier of a new edition of the Wind Quintet in A-flat by Gustav Holst containing previously unreleased material; the Aeolian Winds recorded Three American Perennials for Rick Sowash's CD; they gave the Pittsburgh premiere performance of Gwyneth Walker's Sunshine State wind quintet; and gave the world premiere of local Pittsburgh composer Paul Critser's Wind Quintet in 2018.