Now in its eleventh season, District5 has established itself as one of the most innovative chamber music ensembles in the greater Washington DC area. Each show combines their distinct blend of passion, humor, and virtuosity with music you won’t hear anywhere else.
District5 has appeared at venues like “The REACH” at the Kennedy Center, Music at Dumbarton Oaks, the Barns at Wolftrap, the U.S. Department of State, the Great Hall of the Library of Congress, the American Revolution Institute, the Kosciuszko Foundation, Capitol Fringe, the Chesapeake Music Festival, and the District New Music Coalition Conference.
They received a 2024 Paul R. Judy Center for Research and Innovation grant for “The Queentet Project; a drag symphonic story hour” which included the commission Gorgeously,You! by composer Christen Taylor Holmes. Their debut album of the complete Chopin Preludes was recorded in 2018 and is available on YouTube, Amazon, iTunes, and Spotify. In 2024, they released the first volume of a recording project titled “Forgotten Dances”, which highlights lesser-known works and pieces composed by historically marginalized composers. They also commissioned the “Pandemic Suite,” a collection of short wind quintets by South African and American composers; recorded And Then by award-winning DC composer Jessica Krash; and were the recipients of a Chamber Music America ‘Classical Commission’ with Cypriot-American composer Evis Sammoutis. Together with the group’s ‘Transcriber-in-Residence’ David Plylar, they have brought new life to nearly 100 original transcriptions, many of which feature little-known works and composers.
District5 also enjoys sharing its love for chamber music with young musicians. They have designed educational programs for the Virginia Arts Fest, DC Youth Orchestra Program, American Youth Philharmonic, and the UMBC Wind Ensemble, and served as Ensemble-In-Residence at the University of Maryland’s High School Music Academy. In the summer of 2025, they will serve as faculty for American Youth Philharmonic Orchestra’s Wind Chamber Music Academy.
This project is supported in part by a grant from Eastman’s Institute for Music Leadership’s funds from the Paul R. Judy Center for Innovation and Research
ALMA AND HOW SHE GOT HER NAME. Copyright © 2023 by Juana Martinez Neal. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA.
