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Stephen Montague : Thule Ultima
"Thule ultima is a 4 minute work for a woodwind quintet playing only their mouthpieces. The title of the work "Thule ultima" was a Roman phrase for the "most distant regions" of the Empire. This piece explores some 'distant regions' of the woodwind quintet sound and is a long way from home in the woodwind quintet tradition."

Biography

Stephen Montague was born in 1943 and educated in the USA (Florida State and Ohio State Universities) but has lived in Europe since 1972, first as a Fulbright Scholar in Warsaw (1972-74) and since 1974 in London where he works as a freelance composer. His works have been performed worldwide by leading orchestras, ensembles and soloists including the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, The National Symphony Orchestra (Washington, DC), Südwestfunk Symphony Orchestra (Baden-Baden), Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra (NZ), City of London Sinfonia, Hilliard Ensemble, Ensemble Bash, Singcircle, Nouvel Ensemble Modern (Montreal) and soloists Stephen Kovacevich, Evelyn Glennie, Benjamin Luxon, Joanna MacGregor, and Marc-André Hamelin amongst others. Stephen Montague was Associate Composer with the Orchestra of St. Johns, London, 1995-97, Artistic Director of SPNM (Society for the Promotion of New Music, UK), 1998-99, Guest Professor of Composition at University of Texas, Austin, spring, 2000 and the Festival Composer for the Cambridge Music Festival 2000, UK. His works are recorded on ASV, Continuum, Point Records, NMC and Centaur.

Other works of limited technical difficulty by Stephen Montague