Who we are
Æther is a chamber music ensemble formed in 2017 at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Consisting of all doctoral students, the members of the quintet seek to bring a new type of wind music to a wider general audience. Aether founding members are: Kathleen Carter Bell (oboe), Conor Bell (bassoon), Keith Northover (bass clarinet), Tom Wilson (clarinet), and Ricardo Martinez (saxophone). We perform a variety of repertoire including transcriptions, our own arrangements, and new works written specifically for the reed quintet genre.
Kathleen Carter Bell is an active performer and teacher based in Bloomington. She has performed with many orchestras in the area, including the Indianapolis Symphony, Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, Fort Wayne Philharmonic and Evansville Philharmonic, and spent summers performing at music festivals including Brevard, Banff, Masterworks, and Credo. In February, she represented IU at Seoul University's Winter Chamber Music Festival, performing the Poulenc Trio. Kathleen is a founding member of the Æther Reed Quintet and often collaborates with Jacobs School of Music faculty in chamber recitals. Kathleen’s teaching experiences include serving as the Associate Instructor of Oboe at IU, as well as Graduate Assistant at both the Interlochen Oboe Institutes and Brevard Music Center.
Kathleen is ABD toward a Doctor of Music degree at IU, where she studies with Linda Strommen and Roger Roe. She received her Masters and a Performer Diploma in Oboe Performance from IU, and her Bachelor of Music degree from Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory, where she studied oboe with Jeffrey Rathbun. Kathleen was one of six graduate recipients of the 2012 Barbara and David H. Jacobs Fellowships, a full tuition award granted for “excellence and leadership in the world of music.”
​
A highly evolved saxophone player, Ricardo Martinez has performed world premieres by composers Sophie Lacaze, Robert Lemay, Denis Badault, and Francisco Cortés-Álvarez, and has performed in France, Scotland, Japan, Thailand, and the United States. Martinez has been featured soloist with the University of the Pacific Conservatory Orchestra performing Claude Debussy's Rhapsodie for alto saxophone and the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Cergy-Pontoise Wind Ensemble in a performance of Deux Mouvements by André Waignein.
An avid chamber musician, Martinez is a founding member of the Æther Reed Quintet and soprano saxophonist of Soma Quartet and. In addition, Martinez has performed with the California Symphony, University Orchestra at Indiana University, Bloomington Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Conservatory Orchestra, Silicon Valley Symphony, San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, San Jose Wind Symphony, Boulogne-Billancourt Saxophone Ensemble, Montpellier Saxophone Ensemble, and Cergy Saxophone Quartet. He is a Grand Prize Winner of the 2019 Plowman Chamber Music Competition and was a national finalist in the MTNA Chamber Music Competition in 2015.
As an educator, Martinez has been invited to teach and perform at Stanford University, University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music, and San José State University. He has served as a clinician in the California Bay Area and to members of the California Youth Symphony Wind Ensembles.
Martinez studied under acclaimed saxophonist Eugene Rousseau at the University of Minnesota, as well as Jean-Yves Fourmeau, and Philippe Braquart in France where he obtained the Medaille d’Or in saxophone and chamber music with honors at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Cergy-Pontoise. Martinez completed a Master of Music at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, under the guidance of Otis Murphy. Additional teachers include David Henderson and William Trimble. Currently, Martinez is pursuing a Doctor of Music with minors in Music Education and Wind Conducting at Indiana University where he is assistant to Otis Murphy and holds the position of Associate Instructor of Saxophone.
Conor Bell is an active performer, teacher and reed maker based in Bloomington, Indiana. Conor particularly enjoys finding pieces that haven’t been previously recorded, and expanding the bassoon's repertoire by arranging other instrument’s works for bassoon.
Conor is a doctoral candidate at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music, having completed his doctoral coursework and qualifying exams. He is now working on his dissertation exploring the bassoon works of American composer David Maslanka. In addition to his major field coursework, Conor minored in both Music Theory and Arts Administration.
​
Conor served for two years as the Associate Instructor of Bassoon at Indiana University where he prepared freshmen and sophomore bassoon majors for their Upper Divisional exam by teaching supplementary lessons on fundamentals. He still teaches private lessons on bassoon and contrabassoon, as well as reed making. Conor is passionate about tailoring his instruction to each students’ needs and interests, and using fundamentals to address underlying problems while using music theory and history to unlock meaningful artistic expression. He has experience teaching all levels of experience, including beginners through advanced students and adult hobbyists.
​
As an orchestral musician, Conor is principal bassoon of the Owensboro Symphony in Kentucky. He is also a frequent substitute with various orchestras in Indiana.
​
When he’s not bassooning, Conor enjoys reading good books, playing racquetball, and hiking with his wife Kathleen.
​
Hailing from Maryland, Keith Northover is currently a doctoral student at Indiana University, where he studies clarinet with Howard Klug and early clarinet with Eric Hoeprich. He currently serves as associate instructor for the woodwind department as clarinet instructor and coordinator for secondary woodwind lessons. Before IU, he completed both his Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in clarinet performance and music education from the University of Florida, where he studied with Professor Mitchell Estrin. While attending UF, Keith also served as adjunct instructor of clarinet at the College of Central Florida.
Recent career highlights include chamber music tours in Europe and Brazil, a solo performance of Green’s Bass Clarinet Concerto with the IU Adhoc Orchestra, Rolla’s Basset Horn Concerto with the UF Orchestra and Mcalister's Black Dog Rhapsody with the CCF Wind Ensemble. As a founding member of the Novacane Clarinet Quartet, his musical highlights include many community recitals, educational outreach events, and winning the first clarinet ensemble competition hosted by the Chicago Clarinet Ensemble.
In addition to his active performance schedule, Keith is also an active teacher and researcher. His students have gone on to succeed at Solo and Ensemble contests, all-state ensembles and events, and gaining acceptance into various music programs across the country including Indiana University and the University of Florida. His research and performance interests include pursuing and advocating the use of the auxiliary clarinets, Mozart and the Basset Horn, the use of Bass Clarinet in Opera and Film, and historical performance practices on the early clarinet. With years of service and commitment to providing music to the community, Keith is committed to encouraging and promoting music to the next generation.
​