Musicians
Brandon Patrick George, Flute
Brandon Patrick George has been the flutist of Imani Winds since 2018 and has appeared with the group around the United States and Europe, and on the Grammy-nominated album Bruits. He has been praised as “elegant” by The New York Times, as a “virtuoso” by The Washington Post, and as a “knockout musician with a gorgeous sound” by The Philadelphia Inquirer. His debut album was released by Haenssler Classics in September 2020; The New York Times has described it as “a program that showcases the flute in all its wit, warmth and brilliance.”
Brandon has performed at the Elbphilharmonie, the Kennedy Center, the Dresden Music Festival, and the Prague Spring Festival. In addition to his work with Imani Winds, Brandon’s solo performances include appearances at Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 92nd Street Y, Tippet Rise, and Maverick Concerts. His current collaborations include touring projects with harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani, pianist Aaron Diehl, and harpist Parker Ramsay. In 2021, Brandon was part of the inaugural class of WQXR’s Artist Propulsion Lab, a program designed to advance the careers of early and mid-career artists and support the future of classical music. During his yearlong residency at WQXR, Brandon guest hosted Evening Music, interviewed Ford Foundation president Darren Walker about diversity and equity in the performing arts, and recorded with pianist Aaron Diehl and harpist June Han.
Prior to his solo career, Brandon performed as a guest with many of the world’s leading ensembles including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE). With the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Brandon performed at Walt Disney Concert Hall and at the Hollywood Bowl with Music Director Gustavo Dudamel. His ensemble work allowed him to work closely with some of the foremost composers of our time including John Adams, Louis Andriessen, Tania León, Steve Reich, and George Lewis.
George trained at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the Conservatoire de Paris, and the Manhattan School of Music. He serves on the faculty of the Curtis Institute and the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.
TOYIN SPELLMAN-DIAZ, OBOE
Oboist Toyin Spellman-Diaz grew up surrounded by her parent’s enormous record collection in Washington, DC. It was there she absorbed the many layers of classical music’s beauty and the inspiring and uniting potential of the world’s diverse cultural landscape.
Ms. Spellman-Diaz earned her Bachelors of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and her Master’s and Professional Studies degrees at the Manhattan School of Music. Her orchestral career includes performances with the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Civic Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
Hailed by the Washington Post for her “smooth, controlled tone and excellent technique,” Toyin has performed concertos with the Chicago Civic Orchestra, Manhattan Virtuosi, and with the Kennedy Center Youth Orchestra.
An original member of Imani Winds, Ms. Spellman-Diaz has built her career as a champion of contemporary chamber music. Along with her Imani Winds colleagues, she is devoted to discovering new and diverse musical voices and cultures to increase and enhance the woodwind quintet repertoire. She has also collaborated with some of today’s most influential chamber music ensembles, including Alarm Will Sound, the Antara Ensemble and Camerata Pacifica. Ms. Spellman-Diaz teaches at NYU Steinhardt School of Music, Brooklyn College, and Mannes School of Music. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the American Composers Orchestra.
Mark Dover, Clarinet
GRAMMY® Award-winning clarinetist Mark Dover is a man of many horns, maintaining firm roots in classical music while ever-expanding into the vast world of improvised music. Since 2016 he has served as the clarinetist of Imani Winds, and has appeared as a soloist with the Atlanta, Baltimore, and Albany Symphonies, and the American Composers Orchestra. Most recently, Mark was awarded a Grammy as a player and producer for “Best Classical Compendium” at the 2024 Grammy Awards for Imani Wind’s latest release, “Passion for Bach and Coltrane.” His debut album with Imani Winds, “Bruits,” was nominated for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance at the 2022 Grammy Awards. In 2023 Mark also joined the chamber ensemble yMusic. 2023-24 highlights include appearances at Carnegie Hall Presents with both Imani Winds and yMusic, NPR’s tiny desk with yMusic, and debuts at La Jolla Music Society and Tippet Rise Arts Center.
Mark has performed throughout the United States and abroad, at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Madison Square Garden, the Kennedy Center, the Elbphilharmonie, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In addition to performing with Imani Winds, Mark is the clarinetist with Manhattan Chamber Players. He has performed with the Detroit Symphony, The Cleveland Orchestra at Kent Blossom Music Festival, The Knights, Nu Deco Ensemble, and has performed at the Mostly Mozart Festival, Spoleto, Chamber Music Northwest, and many other Chamber Music series and festivals throughout the country and abroad.
Mark joined the chamber music faculty at Curtis Institute of Music in 2021. He is on the clarinet faculty at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, and Queens College, CUNY. Mark has conducted masterclasses at numerous academic institutions throughout the country, such as University of Michigan, Manhattan School of Music and the University of Texas at Austin.
In addition to his work in the classical world, Mark has an extensive background in jazz and improvised music. He formed the multi-genre duo Port Mande with pianist/producer Jeremy Jordan in 2017. Their debut EP “Is This Loss?” was released in July of 2020. A frequent collaborator with American funk band, Vulfpeck, Mark was featured as a performer and arranger on their highly acclaimed album “Thrill of the Arts,” and in 2019, played to a sold-out Madison Square Garden. He has performed and/or recorded with musicians of many different genres, including Jason and Alicia Moran, Chris Thile, Edward Simon, Brian Blade, Scott Colley, David Binney, Bernard Purdie, Cyrille Aimée, Lawrence, Darren Criss, Theo Katzman, Joey Dosik, Charlie Rosen and his 8 Bit Big Band, ETHEL, Dave Malloy, Phillipa Soo, Kris Bowers, Michael Thurber, Tessa Lark, Louis Cato, Charles Yang, and many more.
A graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy, Mark received his Masters of Music from the Manhattan School of Music and his Bachelor of Music from the University of Michigan. His teachers include David Krakauer, Deborah Chodacki, and Jay DeVries.
Mark is a Buffet Crampon and Vandoren Artist. He lives in New York City with his wife, soprano Faylotte Joy Crayton, and their daughter Lulu.
Kevin Newton, FRENCH HORN
Kevin Newton is a GRAMMY® winning hornist, chamber musician and educator based in Manhattan. He is the horn player of Imani Winds and is an active freelancer in the greater New York area. While growing up in Virginia, his first music teacher, his mother, instilled in him a love of music-making’s collaborative nature which persists to this day.
As a guest musician Mr. Newton has performed/recorded with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center, Alarm Will Sound, Talea Ensemble, Sejong Soloists, Nu Deco Ensemble, Harlem Chamber Players, Gateways Festival Chamber Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Tredici Bacci, Gil Evans Project and Roomful of Teeth. He has also performed on Broadway as a substitute musician in the pits of The Lion King and The Wiz. In addition to Imani Winds he is a member of the Metropolitan Horn Authority and Tsons of Tsunami.
An advocate for new music, Mr. Newton has premiered solo pieces for horn by Erin Busch and José Manuel Serrano and will premiere a new horn concerto from Anthony Plog. He has commissioned solo works by Tsuneo Imahori and Jeff Scott. As a chamber and orchestral musician Kevin has participated in premieres of works by Valerie Coleman, Jeff Scott, Paquito D’Rivera, Nathalie Joachim, Joy Guidry, Jessica Meyer, Carlos Simon, Damien Geter, Danny Elfman, Simon Hanes and Saad Hadaad among many others.
As a composer, Kevin has written pieces for solo horn and piano, most recently fulfilling a commission from the Kayden Music Commissioning Program at the Juilliard School Pre-College with the piece Hill House.
Mr. Newton formerly served as principal horn of the Waynesboro Symphony and, as an orchestral soloist, has performed works by Gordon Jacob, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Franz Strauss. As a soloist, Kevin has also performed original works and Justinian Tamusuza’s Okukoowoola Kw’Ekkondeere for solo horn. He will be a featured artist at the 2024 International Horn Symposium and was a featured artist at the 2022 Southeast Horn Workshop.
Mr. Newton holds faculty positions at the Curtis Institute of Music and in the Contemporary Performance Program at Manhattan School of Music. He is also on the faculty of the Kendall Betts Horn Camp. Mr. Newton has delivered horn masterclasses at many institutions including Yale University, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music and Boston Conservatory at Berklee among others. As a member of Imani Winds he has taught chamber masterclasses at colleges across the country.
Mr. Newton is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at SUNY Stony Brook. He holds a Master of Music in orchestral performance from Manhattan School of Music and a Bachelor of Music from Virginia Commonwealth University. His primary teachers have been David Jolley, Dr. Patrick Smith and Iffet Araniti-Davis.
Monica Ellis, Bassoon
2024 GRAMMY® winner and three time nominee, bassoonist Monica Ellis is a founding member of the wind quintet, Imani Winds, who for over a quarter century has dazzled audiences with their dynamic playing, adventurous programming and commitment to outreach, new works and collaborations. 2023 marks their third GRAMMY® nomination for their 10th studio recording, Jeff Scott’s “Passion for Bach and Coltrane” on their recently formed record label, Imani Winds Media.
As the daughter of a jazz saxophonist father and fashionista mother, she was raised in a house full of go-getters. A natural organizer, Monica is the co-artistic and executive director for Imani Winds and their annual Chamber Music Festival and treasurer for their non-profit Foundation.
A self-proclaimed “band kid”, growing up in her beloved city of Pittsburgh, Monica played clarinet, saxophone and piano. After being introduced to the bassoon in middle school, she began studying with Mark Pancerev, of the Pittsburgh Symphony and went on to receive her Bachelor of Music degree from Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, studying with George Sakakeeny. Among other influential events while at Oberlin, her desire to connect with others flourished through her participation in the Panama Project – a month long camp for young Panamanian musicians.
She received her Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School and Professional Studies Certificate from Manhattan School of Music in the Orchestral Performance Program, studying with Frank Morelli at both institutions.
She has performed and recorded with dozens of world-renowned artists and organizations spanning genres and styles from the likes of Wayne Shorter to the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Solo bassoon appearances have been with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra and the Chineke! Orchestra in London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall.
Recording credits include 10 albums with Imani Winds (Imani Winds Media, Bright Shiny Things, Koch International Classics, EOne and EMI Classics). Monica can also be heard on: Edward Simon – Sorrows and Triumphs, Chick Corea - The Continents, Wayne Shorter Quartet - Without a Net, Mohammed Fairouz - Native Informant, Jeff Scott - Urban Classical Music Project, Brubeck Brothers Quartet - Classified, Steve Coleman – Ascension to Light and Perspectives Ensemble - Montsalvatge Madrigal.
Continuing the lineage of great pedagogues before her, Monica is a passionate educator and mentor. She is on the faculty of Curtis Institute of Music and Manhattan School of Music and has been a visiting professor/faculty at The University of Chicago, Mannes School of Music and The Juilliard School's Music Advancement Program. Also, a renowned clinician, she frequently presents master classes and solo recital performances across the country.
She is a sought-after commentator on critical issues of race, gender and entrepreneurship in classical music and serves on the Orchestra of St. Luke’s Educational Advisory Committee and is a board member for Concert Artists Guild and the International Double Reed Society (IDRS). Monica is a Fox Bassoon Artist and plays exclusively on a Model 201.
Monica religiously watches Jeopardy!, loves home decorating and resides in the historic village of Harlem in New York City with the greatest joy of her life - her 10 year old son, Oden.