Creative Anarchy of Musical Winds Will Blow Into the Arts Center

If variety is the spice of life, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Winds figures to serve up a lively concert Sunday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center’s Founders Hall. For this is a group that seeks variety, both in its programming as an ensemble, and in the individual professional lives of its members.

Typically, the nine-member group will feature works that span three centuries from Mozart to Janacek on its Sunday-afternoon roster--works that offer marked contrasts in style and instrumentation, from Debussy’s unaccompanied flute solo “Syrinx” to Gounod’s charming “Petite Symphonie.”

Who decides what they will play? All contribute, as this is a group of equals, begun in 1981 and comprising flutist David Shostac, oboists Allan Vogel and Kimaree Gilad, clarinetists Gary Gray and Scott Anderson, bassoonists Kenneth Munday and John Steinmetz and horn players Richard Todd and Steven Becknell. They stepped out of the orchestra, Vogel said during an interview on Wednesday, “encouraged by members of the public who heard us play in the orchestra and thought a lot of our wind section. . . . We are a creative anarchy. We’re all good friends, and we’re all very honest with each other.”

One factor that doesn’t come into play when the musicians settle on what to program is the setting. But then, even if they had hoped to consider the acoustics of 299-seat Founders Hall, it would have been impossible: The ensemble’s first rehearsal there will be Sunday, which is not unusual in today’s music world.

How does a musical organization function without a designated leader? “With nine people there’s always plenty of leadership,” Vogel said. “Especially these nine people--they’re all live wires. And when you get a new member of the group, it always just adds another dimension to it. . . . Like our new clarinetist (Scott Anderson)--it changes the nature of the group.”

Away from the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Winds and their parent orchestra, each of the nine players maintains a hectic and varied schedule. Shostac and Becknell are active studio musicians. Vogel and Munday are both busy in Musical Offering, the popular Baroque group. Todd, Gray, and Vogel are all on college faculties and, in fact, Kimaree Gilad (wife of conductor Yehuda), studied with Vogel at the California Institute of the Arts. Steinmetz is a composer who is being urged to write for his associates.

As a group, the wind ensemble has made numerous recordings, mostly on the Nonesuch label. Their latest is a compact disc for Delos featuring performances, with pianist Carol Rosenberger, of the Mozart and Beethoven Piano and Wind Quintets.

But they record as individuals as well. In fact, Richard Todd will be replaced in Sunday’s concert by Brad Warnaar, a frequent player with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, because Todd is away making a jazz recording. Clarinetist Gary Gray was recently a finalist for a Grammy Award for “The Art of Gary Gray,” on Harmonia Mundi.

While the chamber orchestra has played at the Performing Arts Center several times, the wind group has not often been heard in Orange County. “We hope we can play (here) more. We always get a wonderful response from our audiences. It’s a very infectious sound.”

The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Winds will offer works by Mozart, Debussy, Janacek and Gounod on Sunday at 4 p.m. in Founders Hall, Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Tickets: $20. Information: (714) 556-2787).