About Paradise Winds
Paradise Winds, a Phoenix, AZ-based reed quintet, met while pursuing advanced degrees in music at Arizona State University and have been performing together since 2005. Paradise Winds appeared to over a million weekly listeners on American Public Media’s Performance Today in 2011 and 2013. In recent past, Paradise Winds was featured in the Phoenix-based award-winning Downtown Chamber Series, collaborated with the Grammy-winning Phoenix Chorale, and have appeared with Classical Revolution PHX.
Individual members of Paradise Winds have appeared with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, AIMS Festival Orchestra (Graz, Austria), Wintergreen Summer Music Festival Orchestra (Virginia, USA), and in Arizona with the Phoenix Symphony, Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Arizona Opera, and Ballet Arizona.
The quintet has performed at annual conferences for the International Double Reed Society (IDRS) held in Arizona, Ohio, California, Tokyo, Georgia, and Wisconsin, and for the 2014 International Clarinet Association conference in Louisiana. They have also performed at North American Saxophone Alliance conferences in 2011, 2012, and 2015.
Active teachers, members of Paradise Winds hold positions at Arizona State University, the Maricopa Community Colleges (Phoenix-area), and have served in positions and given residencies abroad in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Ecuador, and Qatar.
Agents of new repertoire, Paradise Winds has commissioned works by Deborah Kavasch, John Marvin, Robbie McCarthy, Kurt Mehlenbacher, Alyssa Morris, and Kincaid Rabb, and premiered the first-ever North American concerto grosso for reed quintet and orchestra by Graham Cohen during the 2014-2015 season with MusicaNova Orchestra.
Member Bios
Joseph Kluesener (bassoon). A versatile performer, educator and concert curator, Joseph Kluesener maintains a diverse career. Kluesener is Second Bassoonist and Faculty at Wintergreen Summer Music Festival (VA), and has performed with the United States Air Force, The Phoenix Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Kentucky Symphony. Kluesener is heard on American Public Media’s Performance Today with Paradise Winds. Abroad, Kluesener has performed at Aveiro International Music Festival (Portugal) and was Artist/Faculty at Saarburg Serenaden (Germany); nationally, in conferences of the International Viola Society, North American Saxophone Alliance, International Clarinet Association and the International Double Reed Society.
From 2014-2017, Kluesener was appointed Artistic Director of Fountain Hills Chamber Players (Fountain Hills, AZ) and curated events with the grassroots alt-classical movement, Classical Revolution PHX from 2010 to 2014.
Adjunct Faculty in the Maricopa Community College District, Kluesener also maintains a private studio. Kluesener received Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees from Arizona State University, and two Bachelors of Music cum laude from University of Cincinnati.
Joshua Gardner (clarinet) is Clinical Associate Professor of Music and Director of the Performance Physiology Research Laboratory at Arizona State University, where he has taught since 2011. He maintains an active performance career, performing with several ensembles, including the internationally recognized Paradise Winds and Égide Duo, and is a frequent soloist with high school and college ensembles. He has performed and lectured at conferences for the International Clarinet Association, European Clarinet Association, International Double Reed Society, and North American Saxophone Alliance and has been featured on American Public Radio’s Performance Today. In addition to performing and teaching, Gardner has a strong interest in woodwind pedagogy and research. He won first prize at the International Clarinet Association Research Competition in 2008 and has presented lectures on tongue motion during clarinet performance throughout the US, often accompanied by live tongue imaging. He is currently exploring the use of ultrasound for quantified research and performance diagnostics. As part of the PPR Lab, Gardner often mentors student research initiatives ranging from examining embouchure force dynamics using thin-film force transducers to exploring non-articulatory tongue motion during saxophone performance using ultrasound imaging. He is also a member of the interdisciplinary ASU research group, SAMBA – Science of Art, Music, and Brain Activity. The group plans to integrate ecologically-based perceptual scene-analysis theory, music performance and education principles, and neural brain modeling tests to further our understanding of music perception and education. Dr. Gardner received Bachelor’s degrees in Music Education and Clarinet Performance from the University of Kentucky and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Arizona State University. Gardner is a Henri Selmer Paris/Conn-Selmer Performing Artist playing Privilege clarinets, a Silverstein Pro Team Artist, and uses Vandoren mouthpieces.
Stefanie Harger Gardner (bass clarinet) teaches clarinet, chamber music, and music theory at Glendale Community College and Ottawa University. Previously she served on the faculty at Northern Arizona University and Mesa Community College. Gardner maintains an active performance career, performing with Arizona Opera, the Phoenix Symphony, Red Rocks Chamber Music Festival, Seventh Roadrunner, the internationally recognized Paradise Winds, and grant-winning Égide Duo, whose mission is to commission, record, and perform music inspiring social change. She has performed in conferences for the International Clarinet Association, the International Double Reed Society, the North American Saxophone Alliance, and the International Viola Congress. Gardner’s chamber music albums are recorded on the Soundset label and can be heard on iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube. In addition to performing and teaching, Gardner has a strong interest in woodwind pedagogy. In 2012, Gardner won first prize at the International Clarinet Association Research Competition with her study, “An Investigation of Finger Motion and Hand Posture during Clarinet Performance,” where she collaborated with the Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing at ASU to study hand posture and finger motion during clarinet performance using CyberGloves®. Recently, she was awarded “Outstanding Contributions in Private Teaching” by Arizona State University, and has been hired by Norton Publishing Company to review theory and aural skills textbooks. Dr. Gardner received Bachelor, Master, and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in Clarinet Performance from Arizona State University studying with Robert Spring. Gardner is a Henri Selmer Paris/Conn-Selmer Performing Artist playing Privilege clarinets, a Silverstein Pro Team Artist, and uses Selmer mouthpieces.
Tiffany Pan (oboe) performs with many groups in Arizona including the Phoenix Symphony, Tucson Symphony, West Valley Symphony, Musica Nova Orchestra, Phoenix Theater, Phoenix Boys Choir, and Cactus Chamber Musicians. She has performed in conferences for the International Double Reed Society, International Clarinet Association, and North American Saxophone Alliance. An enthusiastic teacher, Pan maintains a studio of private students and coaches youth ensembles in the valley.
Pan is oboe specialist at Hannah’s Oboes where she helps manage the business. She and Hannah bring inventory to International Double Reed Society conferences and discuss instrument developments with manufacturers from around the world.
A Native of Taiwan, Tiffany Pan received her Master’s degree from Arizona State University and Bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has studied with Martin Schuring, John Dee, Ting-Hung Liu, and Peggy Lee.
Patrick Murphy (saxophone) is currently the Theater Manager at the ground-breaking Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, AZ. Previously, he served on the faculty of the Crane School of Music, State University of New York, College at Potsdam. He completed his doctorate from Arizona State University in 2013, and holds degrees from The University of Michigan, and the Crane School of Music. He has studied saxophone with Timothy McAllister, Donald Sinta, and Eric Lau and composition with David Heinick. He has performed throughout North and South America with tours spanning Michigan, Illinois, Tennessee, Arizona, Ecuador and Peru. He was the last saxophonist to perform with the New World Symphony in The Lincoln Theater, and the first saxophonist to perform in the Frank Gehry-designed New World Center. Most recently, he performed with the Chicago Symphony in their presentation of Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights.
Paradise Collective
Other wind-oriented and otherwise performing artists:
Flute – Jenna Daum, Kate Mulligan-Ferry, JinHee Hand
Oboe – Nikolaus Flickinger, Bea Strong, Ashley Williams, Bill Aikens, Rachel Messing, Mickey Hansen
Clarinet – Audrey Miller, Andy DeBoer, Matt Miracle, Brian Viliunas
Bassoon – Melanie Sanguinetti, Jill Marderness, Thomas J. Breadon, Max Grube, Mary Stuckemeyer
Saxophone – Woody Chenoweth
Horn – Lee Adam Walck, Brandon Houghtalen, Lauren Kerrick
Viola – Allyson Wuenschel
Piano – Erika Tazawa, Kathryn Christensen, Gail Novak, Yeojin Seol
Accordion – Gabe Hall-Rodrigues
Percussion – Joseph Goglia
