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Woodward quintet in concert Sunday
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The 2011-2012 concert season marks the 25th year the Manteca Kindred Arts Association, Inc. has been bringing fine classical performers to local residents.

The association is concluding its silver anniversary with the fifth concert of the season featuring the Stanford Woodwind Quintet. The group is likewise celebrating a milestone of its own as the musicians make their appearance here. This concert season is the 20th year they have been performing together.

The will be the headliners at the Sunday, March 18, concert at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church where the program will begin at 3 p.m. Their performance will be followed by a reception in the church Social Hall where the annual Great Options Drawing fund-raiser for Kindred Arts will be held as well.

The Quintet is made up of five musical instruments: flute, oboe, Clarinet, bassoon, and French horn.

Below are the members of the Quintet and profiles in a nutshell as sterling performers:

•Alexandra Hawley was born in New York, the daughter of Alexander Williams, principal clarinetist with the N.B.C. Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini, and Frances Blaisdell, the first woman wind player admitted to both the Juilliard School of Music and to the New York Philharmonic. Mrs. Hawley studied with Murray Panitz of the Philadelphia Orchestra, with Lloyd Gowen at Stanford, and with Jean-Pierre Rampal in France.

After completing her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Stanford University, she lived in Europe for several years, performing in recital and on radio. She made her professional debut in the Concertgebouw Recital Hall in Amsterdam, followed by her New York debut in Carnegie Recital Hall. Since then she has performed throughout the United States as a soloist and in chamber music ensembles. She is the founder and artistic director of the Avedis Chamber Music series in San Francisco. She is a member of the music department faculty at Stanford university and a founding member of the Stanford Woodwind Quintet.

•Peter Lemberg plays principal oboe and English horn with the San Francisco Chamber orchestra, West Bay Opera Orchestra and Ensemble Monterey Chamber Orchestra. Lemberg has recently played as a substitute principal and section oboist for the San Francisco Opera, and can be heard on their radio, Internet and public television broadcasts. His recording can be found on the Centaur and Delos labels.

Lemberg received his bachelor of music degree from San Francisco State University where he studied oboe and English horn with Raymund Duste.

•Mark Brandenburg received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Juilliard School of Music, and includes Frealon Bibbins Jr., Bernard Portnoy and Rosario Mazzeo among his teachers. A former member of the San Francisco Symphony and the San Jose Symphony, he is currently principal clarinet in the Opera San Jose Orchestra and the Midsummer Mozart Festival Orchestra. In addition, he pursues an active solo, chamber music and freelance career, performing frequently with many of the Bay Area’s leading ensembles. He has taught at San Jose State University and at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He is currently on the faculty at the University of California, Santa Cruz and Stanford University.

•Lawrence Ragent, hornist, received his musical training at the New England Conservatory where he graduated with honors. He is a member of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. He has also performed with the San Francisco Symphony, the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra and the Boston Symphony. He has taught at Brown University and the University of California at Santa Cruz and is currently on the faculty at Stanford University. Ragent has performed as soloist with the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the San Francisco Chamber orchestra, Sinfonia San Francisco, and the pro Arte Chamber Orchestra.

•Rufus Olivier has held the principal bassoon position in the San Francisco Opera orchestra and San Francisco Ballet Orchestra since 1980. At the age of 18, Olivier was selected to perform a concerto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and later went on to play with that same orchestra. In 1977 he won a position with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra under Neville Mariner, and the same month joined the San Francisco Symphony. Olivier performs frequently as a soloist and as a member of the Midsummer Mozart Festival Orchestra and principal bassoonist of the Grand Teton Music Festival. He was awarded the Deal of the County of San Francisco from Mayor Frank M. Jordan for exemplary accomplishment on the occasion of Black History Month. He teaches at Stanford University and Azusa Pacific University and is a founding member of the Stanford Woodwind Quintet.