Valerie Coleman

Composer and flutist Valerie Coleman has gained wide recognition for music that fuses classical styles with African American vernacular elements. She founded the wind quintet Imani Winds and has recorded frequently with that group. Coleman founded Imani Winds in 1997, hoping to provide role models for young African American wind players. The group has been durably successful, earning a Grammy Award nomination in 2005 for its album The Classical Underground. In 2002, Coleman's wind quintet Umoja was listed among the Top 101 Great American Works by Chamber Music America. In 2019, her Shotgun Houses was included on the Chamber Music Northwest collection Clarinet Quintets for Our Time. In 2023, flutist Alexa Still issued an entire album devoted to Coleman.