Members of the Elektra Winds Quartet are, from left, Dr. Anna Lampidis, Dr. Laura Stevens, Amber Ferenz and Dr. Eileen Young. They will be presenting a concert June 20 at First Presbyterian Church in Salisbury. – Submitted

Karen Kistler

karen.kistler@salisburypost.com

 

The final concert of the Salisbury Symphony’s 2024-25 season is set for Friday, and this Serenade Series event will feature a woodwinds performance.

The Elektra Winds Quartet will be performing a special program of wind ensemble music composed exclusively by women composers entitled “Women in Woodwinds.”

Scheduled for June 20 at 6 p.m., the free concert will be held in Lewis Hall at the First Presbyterian Church, 308 W. Fisher St., Salisbury. The quartet is composed of Dr. Eileen Young on the clarinet; Dr. Laura Stevens on flute; Dr. Anna Lampidis, playing oboe; and Amber Ferenz, on the bassoon.

As noted on Facebook, among the pieces that the group will be performing is an original one by Ferenz, titled “North Carolina Called Me Home” from “These Four Directions.” Other selections will include pieces ranging from “The Water-Sprites (Les Willis)” by mid-19th century French composer Cecile Chaminade to the very modern “Motion” by Alyssa Morris.

Young, Lampidis and Ferenz are all founding members of the Elektra Winds Quartet, and Stevens currently performs with the group.

In announcing the upcoming concert, the Salisbury Symphony’s website shared the biography of each musician, noting their extensive musical careers and their achievements.  

Young, it noted, performs as the principal bass clarinetist in the Winston-Salem Symphony and the principal clarinetist with the Salisbury Symphony and earned her doctor of musical arts degree in clarinet performance at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

In addition to the Elektra Winds, Young is also a founding member of the Bolton Quintet.

She is in her 10th year as music director of Salem Band, which it said is one of the oldest community bands in the nation, and she also directs and serves as clarinet soloist with the Salem Swing Band. 

Stevens is the lecturer of flute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a member of the Carolina Wind Quintet, UNC’s longest continuously active faculty ensemble in the department’s history.

The website said that she has served as the principal flutist of the Western Piedmont Symphony since 2002 and has been a member of the Salisbury Symphony since 2000. She is a founding member of the Relevents Wind Quintet.

Stevens earned her doctor of musical arts degree in flute performance, also at UNC-Greensboro.

Lampidis, who serves as principal oboe for several orchestras, including the Salisbury Symphony and the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, holds the position of oboe and English horn with the Greensboro Symphony.

Making her solo debut at the age of 15, the site noted that she has “a diverse career as an orchestral player, chamber musician, soloist, clinician, educator and mentor,” A member of the music faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Wake Forest University, East Carolina University and Greensboro, Lampidis performs yearly with the Carolina Wind Quintet and Coastal Winds. She also received her doctor of musical arts degree from UNCG.

According to the symphony website, Ferenz serves as a bassoonist, teaching bassoon at Wake Forest and Gardner-Webb universities. She is also a composer and “has written pieces that weave together melodies and healing songs given by nature.”

Ferenz is a second bassoonist for the Asheville Symphony and the third/contra bassoonist for the Greensboro Symphony, a frequent sub with the Charlotte Symphony and has been the camp coordinator for the Glickman-Popkin Bassoon Camp since 2007.

No tickets are necessary for this concert, and the public is encouraged to attend. As noted on the event’s Facebook page, childcare will be provided during the concert, and a reception will be held afterwards.

The 2025-26 symphony season will be starting the first of July. For additional information about the symphony and its various programs, visit its website at salisburysymphony.org.