Gorton Center will open Rendezvous Arts' Season 7 with the return of an audience favorite — this time expanded to include strings. The Woodwind Octet returns with an expanded lineup, growing to 11 musicians for added color, warmth and energy. The program combines familiar repertoire with a new commissioned work. Local composer Scott Stevenson has written a new piece for the ensemble, titled "Nice Fresh," which will receive its world premiere at Gorton Center. Audiences will be among the first to hear the piece, composed specifically for the musicians performing.

The program also includes Jonathan Dove's "Figures in the Garden," a wind octet serenade inspired by Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro," along with intimate performances by a horn trio and a cello-and-bass duo. The concert concludes with Antonín Dvoák's Serenade for Winds in D Minor, Op. 44, a work Rendezvous Arts has sought to program for several years. The piece is noted for its warmth and lyricism and will be performed by the expanded ensemble to open the new season.

The program will also feature visual artist Fred Draper, whose work invites viewers to look more closely at the world around them. A perceptual artist drawn to landscape and the natural world, Draper works across pastel, drypoint printmaking, drawing and painting. His work is rooted in careful observation, exploring how the same subject can reveal something entirely different through a change in medium, material or point of view. Draper holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in painting from Wright State University, and his work has been exhibited in galleries across the country. The program features a world premiere, an 11-member ensemble, and works inspired by Mozart and composed by Dvoák.

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