Con Moto Chamber Ensemble

The Con Moto Ensemble was formed in 1989 with pianist Gail Strauss as the artistic director to promote the enjoyment and performance of chamber music for winds strings and piano in Suffolk County. This group of local musicians comes from widely varied professional backgrounds such as engineering dentistry music education university and aerospace. The ensemble has performed throughout Nassau and Suffolk Counties and NYC at churches temples libraries art shows weddings nursing and assisted living facilities woman's organizations fundraisers and private homes. Most of the players have had extensive experience in playing in orchestral groups wind ensembles chamber groups and as soloists. Their music encompasses a wide variety of musical styles including baroque romantic jazz modern classical and contemporary. At any concert you are just as likely to hear a jazz piece by jazz composers Claude Bolling Leonard Bernstein George Gershwin a baroque trio by Telemann or Bach a classical work by Mozart or Beethoven or a romantic work by Schumann Mendelssohn or Brahms. Their instrumentation includes clarinet flute bassoon French horn violin viola and piano. The performers are: Gail Strauss Laurel Tompkins on piano Randy Kay and Al Tobin on clarinet Dana Olson and Naomi Gage on flute Keith Itzler on bassoon and Stephanie Branta and Jennifer Hildreth on violin.