Lumas Winds

Lumas Winds are committed ambassadors for wind chamber music and the rich variety of repertoire that it offers. Winners of the 2023 Royal Over-Seas League Competition, they have firmly established themselves as one of the UK's leading young ensembles, regularly featuring at festivals and music clubs up and down the country.

Lumas Winds released their debut album, The Naming of Birds, in May 2024 on the Champs Hill Records label. The disc highlights their passion as advocates for works that deserve recognition and was described by Andrew McGregor as ‘an excellent and highly enjoyable survey of the British wind quintet from the early 1960s into this century’ (BBC Radio 3, Record Review). Six hidden gems feature from each decade from 1960 to 2010 including world premiere recordings of Beamish, Higgins, and Maconchy.

Lumas are currently featured young artists with the Countess of Munster Recital Scheme as well as the Kirckman Concerts Society, the latter leading to them making their King’s Place debut in London. Prior to this the group were Tunnell Trust Young Artists, taking them on a tour of Scottish music clubs in February 2024; Britten Pears Young Artists, which provided them with a week long residency in Snape Maltings, exploring various contemporary works with the Montreal based Qautuor Bozzini, as well as the performance of a newly commissioned work by composer Marcello Palazzo; and Philip and Dorothy Green Young Artists through Making Music.

The group has featured at the Buxton, Gower, Peasmarsh, Budleigh, Corbridge, Ironstone, Winchester, and Lake District chamber music festivals, as well as giving recitals at St. George's, Bristol and the Brighton Dome. They have collaborated with pianists Benjamin Frith, Huw Watkins and Jonathan Ferrucci in Poulenc's Sextet. Lumas made their Wigmore Hall debut in June 2023 playing Lalo Schifrin’s La Nouvelle Orleans, a piece they continue to champion.

Lumas Winds give concerts, coaching sessions and side-by-side performing experiences at RWCMD where they are Ensemble-in-Association to the woodwind department.