The City of Tomorrow wind quintet

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The City of Tomorrow, Wind Quintet

The City of Tomorrow is an experimental wind quintet with a fearless aesthetic and a commitment to 21st-century music. Their U.S. tours have included concerts at Trinity Wall Street, Spectrum, and IN\TER/SECT, (co-presented by Bryant Park and Chamber Music America) as well as the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Series in Chicago, the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival in Michigan, and Red Note New Music Festival in Illinois. The quintet’s work has been supported by residencies at the Banff Center for the Arts & Creativity and the Avaloch Farm Music Institute. 

Their 2021 release Blow on New Focus Recordings (FCR294) features music by Esa-Pekka Salonen and Franco Donatoni, and the world premiere recording of a work by Han Lash, which was supported by a Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Grant. The City of Tomorrow’s first album, Nature, released on PARMA/Ravello in 2014, wrestled with questions of human involvement in the natural world and included music by David Lang, Luciano Berio, Nat Evans, and Denys Bouliane.

In 2015, the quintet began exploring physical movement and spatial relationships in their concert programming. Collaborating with lighting designer Alex Deahl, the quintet has experimented with an ensemble-controlled lighting setup and choreography to create a seamless and immersive musical experience.

The City of Tomorrow’s members are based in New York, Boston, and Memphis and are in demand as new music specialists, curators, collaborators, and teachers. As an ensemble, they have been in residence at Vermont College of Fine Arts, Berklee College of Music, Indiana University, Tufts, and Yale. Members of the ensemble can also be heard with some of the finest ensembles in New York and beyond, including Talea Ensemble and the International Contemporary Ensemble. 

Meet the members

Elise Blatchford, Flute

Praised by the Cleveland Plain Dealer for her “superb command of color and nuance,” Elise Blatchford is the Associate Professor of Flute at the University of Memphis Scheidt School of Music in Tennessee.

A chamber musician, soloist, orchestral musician, and teacher, Ms. Blatchford is a flutist who embraces the independent, the experimental, and the DIY. As a founding member of the new music woodwind quintet The City of Tomorrow, Ms. Blatchford won first prize at the 2011 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and received a Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning grant in 2014. The quintet tours nationally and has enjoyed residencies at Yale, Tufts, Vermont College of Fine Arts, and Williams College. Ms. Blatchford has appeared with the International Contemporary Ensemble in New York and at the Banff Centre for Creativity in Alberta, Canada.

As a recitalist, Ms. Blatchford frequently programs music of the 20th and 21st centuries, and has been an invited guest at venues across the U.S., including the Dame Myra Hess Series at the Chicago Cultural Center, Yale University, the University of Oregon, and Virginia Tech. 

Also at home in the traditional orchestra world, Ms. Blatchford served as Guest Principal Flute for the Memphis Symphony Orchestra’s 2018-19 season. She has performed with the Oregon Symphony, the Phoenix Symphony, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, IRIS Orchestra, and the YOA Orchestra of the Americas. With YOA, she toured extensively throughout South America, the Caribbean, and mainland China, made an appearance at Carnegie Hall, and recorded with Philip Glass.

Ms. Blatchford holds degrees in flute performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the San Francisco Conservatory. A Powell Artist, she performs on a 14K gold handmade Powell flute.

Stuart Breczinski, Oboe

Praised by the New York Times for his “eloquent” playing, Stuart Breczinski is a New York and Louisiana-based oboist, composer, audio engineer, and educator whose early interest in making unusual sounds on the oboe has developed into a passion for creating and sharing innovative audio with audiences everywhere. An avid proponent of chamber and contemporary music, Breczinski is a member of the City of Tomorrow, a woodwind quintet dedicated to the promotion and performance of contemporary works, and of Ensemble Mélange, a virtuosic sextet whose repertoire spans a myriad of genres. He is the principal oboist of NOVUS NY and Contemporaneous, a member of Decoda, and he has been a collaborator with Bang on a Can, Talea Ensemble, the International Contemporary Ensemble, and the New York New Music Ensemble.

Breczinski was the winner of the 2018 Matthew Ruggiero International Woodwind Competition, and he received an honorable mention at the 2015 IDRS Gillet-Fox International Competition. He is currently serving as Visiting Assistant Professor of Oboe at Louisiana State University.

Rane Moore, Clarinet

Clarinetist Rane Moore enjoys an active performing schedule at home and abroad. She is the principal clarinetist of the Boston Philharmonic and the Boston Landmarks Orchestra, a member of the Talea Ensemble, Sound Icon, Improbable Beasts, the award-winning wind quintet The City of Tomorrow and is the Co-Artistic Director of Winsor Music. Ms. Moore has given numerous premieres of new works and appeared with International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Guerilla Opera, Yarn/Wire, and the Bang on a Can All-Stars among many others. She is a frequent guest with Emmanuel Music, A Far Cry, Boston Modern Orchestra Project and the Boston Ballet Orchestra. Ms. Moore has recordings on Tzadik, Pi, Wergo, and ECM records and is on faculty at Boston Conservatory at Berklee and Longy School of Music of Bard College. Critics have praised her “enthralling,” “tour-de-force,” and “phenomenal” performances.

Nanci Bellmont, Bassoon

As both an artist and educator, bassoonist Nanci Belmont is driven by the desire to inspire meaningful conversation and relevant musical experiences. A dynamic solo performer, Nanci is the Second Prize winner of the 2016 IDRS Gillet-Fox Competition and is a Leitzinger Bassoons Performing Artist. She is also a member of The City of Tomorrow, a wind quintet with a fearless aesthetic and dedication to the performance and expansion of contemporary repertoire. Nanci has performed with the International Contemporary Ensemble and Talea Ensemble, and has appeared with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, New York City Ballet Orchestra, Charleston Symphony, and Princeton Symphony. From 2012-14 she was a fellow of Ensemble Connect – a Program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute, and has taken part in numerous community engagement performances. Nanci is Assistant Professor of Bassoon at Louisiana State University and also serves on faculty at the Mostly Modern Festival in Saratoga Springs and the Trentino Music Festival in Italy.

Leander Star, Horn

In addition to his work with the City of Tomorrow, Leander Star has been the ensemble hornist at the Composers’ Conference since 2022, where he has had the opportunity to workshop, record, and premiere more than a dozen works by upcoming composers each year under the direction of Vimbayi Kaziboni. In 2020, Leander joined the Tuben Horn supergroup, the Lawrence Graduate Bayreuth Tuben Quintet. The politically and performatively charged ensemble has presented recitals and classes relating to creativity, inclusion, and multidisciplinary approaches at Oberlin College, the University of Michigan, and Northwestern University among others. In more traditional realms, Leander is the tenured fourth horn for both the Oregon Ballet Theater Orchestra as well as the Portland Opera and in 2023, he joined the faculty of the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance as Visiting Assistant Professor of Horn.