Excelsior presents world-premiere recordings of works by Caleb Burhans, recipient of commissions from Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and the Library of Congress; prolific, award-winning composer Alex Shapiro; and Jesse Limbacher, winner of the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award. The disc also includes a work by Chicago Symphony Orchestra composer-in-residence, Mason Bates. Excelsior was produced by multiple Grammy-award winner Judith Sherman. Praised by The New York Times for its "conviction, authority, and finesse," Fifth House Ensemble has pioneered the art of narrative chamber music. The 10-member ensemble of winds, brass, strings, and piano infuses humor and joy into its performances of established and emerging repertoire. Fifth House Ensemble has performed at Chicago's Ravinia Festival and Museum of Contemporary Art and at New York's Miller Theater. The ensemble has presented performances and training programs at the Eastman School of Music, Yale University, Indiana University, and New England Conservatory. Fifth House created the annual fresh inc summer festival in southern Wisconsin, which presents new chamber works by composers under the age of 32.