East Wind was commissioned by the National Flute Association in 1987 for its annual Young Artists Competition and was first performed by the six semi-finalists at the 1988 San Diego NFA Convention. It may or may not have been Ran's intention to embody a biblical force when she composed this piece, but one cannot deny the connection to the east wind as found in many scripture passages of the Bible. It is the fiercest of all winds, the one in Exodus that brought the eighth plague of locusts and was powerful enough to part the Red Sea for Moses and his people. Ran's East Wind is also remarkably ferocious (and certainly uncharacteristic of the flute), but it is the so-called "calm after the storm" that the composer describes as East Wind's central image: "from within its ornamented, inflected, winding, twisting, at times convoluted lines, a gentle melody gradually emerges." – Notes by Emily Ferryman

About the composer:

Shulamit Ran was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, where she received her early training in music. She came to the U .S. at the age of fourteen to study, having received scholarships from The Mannes College of Music in New York and the America Israel Cultural Foundation. Among her numerous awards, fellowships and commissions are those from the Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund, the Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, Chamber Music America, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony, and many more. Ran has served as Composer-in-Residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Lyric Opera of Chicago and is presently the W1lliam H. Colvin Professor in the Department of Music at the University of Chicago, where she has taught since 1973.

About the performer:

Since receiving her master's degree from the University of Michigan, flutist Emily Perryman has established an active free-lance career in the Ann Arbor area, performing with the Flint Symphony, Plymouth Symphony, Brave New Works, Phoenix Ensemble, Michigan Opera Works, and Comic Opera Guild, Ms. Perryman also holds degrees from the Ohio State University, where she graduated summa cum laude and was awarded the Theodore Presser Foundation Scholarship.