Orchestral Zone


German Brass Live at RNCM
October 3, 2008, 1:31 pm
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Date & Time – Friday 24 October 2008 7.30pm

 

Venue – Haden Freeman Concert Hall

Ticket Price – £12

Concessions – Concessions Available

 S Bach (arr Matthias Höfs) Concerto in D major BWV 972

J S Bach (arr Enrique Crespo) Ich ruf’ zu Dir, Herr Jesu Christ

J S Bach (arr Enrique Crespo) Toccata and Fugue in D minor

Ludwig van Beethoven (arr Enrique Crespo) Adagio sostenuto from Moonlight Sonata

Johann Strauss (arr Matthias Höfs) Tritsch-Tratsch Polka

Franz Liszt (arr Matthias Höfs) Hungarian Rhapsody

 

Klaus Wallendorf director

Matthias Höfs, Christoph Baerwind, Uwe Köller, Werner Heckmann trumpets

Enrique Crespo, Sven Strunkeit, Uwe Füssel trombones

Wolfgang Gaag, Klaus Wallendorf horns

Stefan Ambrosius tuba

Formed in 1974, German Brass is a pioneer among German brass ensembles and quite simply one of the finest brass ensembles around today.

Players from the very best German orchestras and ensembles have come together for this rare British tour, and are sure to delight you with their virtuosity and flair. Long known for a mix of tradition and experimentation, their eclectic programmes are full of surprises, from Scheidt

GERMAN BRASS is both: tradition and progress. But above all the ensemble has for years been a synonym for brass music at its highest level. A pioneer among the German brass ensembles, GERMAN BRASS has co-initiated the brass movement from its beginnings in 1974 and has influenced it decisively ever since.

GERMAN BRASS has succeeded in creating “diversity in unity”, i.e. to work the miracle of producing a unique, unmistakable collective sound with ten individualists and renowned soloists from outstanding first-class German orchestras. As an ensemble they play transparent chamber music but  at the same time with symphonic magnificence and dynamics that only brass intrumentalists can produce.

The repertoire of GERMAN BRASS includes all stylistic directions and kinds from Scheidt to  from Dixieland to Bossa Nova.  It contains unabashedly  classical and “timeless”, serious and entertaining elements. In their concerts the ensemble nurtures and surmounts the division in two kinds of musical styles with professionality and fun: the programs contain arrangements of classicals works as well as adaptations and compositions of musical evergreens which have mostly been arranged and composed specially for GERMAN BRASS and pay tribute to the typical sound and the technical brilliance of the ensemble. Listening to one of the concerts of GERMAN BRASS, presented by Klaus Wallendorf of the ensemble with inimitably witty and entertaining comments as well as to one of the many recordings on CD is quite an experience.

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Boston Brass in Concert at RNCM
October 3, 2008, 1:29 pm
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Jose Sibaja trumpet

Jeff Conner trumpet

J D Shaw french horn

Lance Laduke trombone, euphonium

Andrew Hitz tuba

From exciting classical arrangements to breath-taking vocal harmony and burning jazz standards, Boston Brass achieves new levels in brass performance, treating audiences to a captivating musical experience for all ages in this, their only appearance in Manchester.

Date & Time – Tuesday 7 October 2008 7.30pm

Venue – Haden Freeman Concert Hall

Ticket Price – £16, £14

Concessions – Concessions Available

More powerful than a speeding locomotive!!!”

Boston, Massachusetts
United States

About Boston Brass
Boston Brass is setting new standards in entertainment. From exciting classical arrangements, to breathtaking vocal harmony, to burning jazz standards, Boston Brass achieves new levels in brass performance while treating audiences to a unique musical experience that captivates all ages. The ensemble’s lively repartee, touched with humor and personality, bridges the vast ocean of classical formality to delight audiences to an evening of boisterous fun, exciting knowledge and an enthusiastic love of music, deftly exhibited by five brash brass players. Boston Brass has transcended the traditional mores of brass ensemble literature and, with a host of original arrangements, has pioneered a new generation of music that sets out to achieve one simple goal: entertain at all costs with blistering precision. Whether they are performing solo or with a symphony orchestra, the fun and emotion exhibited from this group is uniquely infectious and keeps audiences on their feet, demanding encore after encore. Performing over 100 concerts annually, the members of Boston Brass have dazzled audiences at concerts and jazz festivals around the world in such cities as Tokyo, Singapore, Taipei, Macau, New York, Portland, Seattle, Philadelphia, Detroit, Dallas, San Antonio, Washington DC, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, Sacramento, and Los Angeles. As committed to education as they are to performance, they have conducted master classes at colleges and universities around the country including The Eastman School of Music, Rice University, Peabody Conservatory of Music, University of Connecticut, Syracuse University, University of North Carolina, University of Florida, University of North Texas, Boston University, Yale University, University of Michigan and U.C.L.A. Boston Brass has also conducted clinics and concerts at national and regional music educational conferences in New York, Massachusetts, Georgia, Florida, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Missouri, Iowa, South Carolina, Ohio and Texas. Boston Brass helped raise over $100,000 for VH1?s Save the Music program, giving musical instruments to schools in need. Boston Brass has been featured educators and performers at the Mid West Band and Orchestra Conference, American Bandmaster Association Conference in Gainesville, FL, Southern Oregon University?s American Band College in Ashland, OR, and at the Texas Bandmasters Association Convention in San Antonio, TX. In October 2006 Boston Brass became Artist/Educational Ambassadors for Jupiter Band Instruments. During the 2005 season Boston Brass made their debut appearances in the Far East, with an eight city concert tour of Taiwan, and as featured guest ensemble at the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE) 2005 conference in Singapore. They also much acclaimed concert appearances in Hong Kong and Macau. In December 2005 Boston Brass made their debut tour of Japan with an eight city tour. Boston Brass has been featured on The CBS Morning Show, National Public Radio’s Performance Today, The Great American Brass Band Festival and has recorded several ground breaking, extraordinary, delightful albums. Two of these albums appear on the Summit Records label: Stealing the Show, a collection of overtures and arias, and Young Fogeys, a collage of jazz and swing favorites. The ensemble?s latest release on the Loft Recordings label entitled Out of This World, features heroic music for brass and organ. Along with Seattle’s St. Mark’s Cathedral organist J. Melvin Butler, the band explores symphonic textures from all eras of music and even includes a commission from Hollywood composer Bruce Edward Miller entitled Pluto: The Last Planet. The summer of 2000 proved to be an exciting time as Boston Brass teamed up with the legendary jazz recording genius Rudy van Gelder to produce Ya Gotta Try. This collaboration, which features music from Horace Silver, Chick Corea, Dizzy Gillespie and many others, further explores the innovative jazz styles that have propelled Boston Brass to the forefront of their genre. The 2003 release of Within Earshot features classical pieces by Shostakovich, Ginastera, Dvorak, Liszt and others. In that same year, Boston Brass collaborated with the Syracuse University Wind Ensemble for a new recording of Christmas classics titled Christmas Bells are Swingin?, which was released in 2004 and featured many of the most beloved tunes of the holiday season. In winter 2005, the Boston Brass All-Stars Big Band was born when the five members of the ensemble were joined by twelve other well known brass players and musicians to record A Stan Kenton Christmas. This recording of holiday music, conducted by brass master Sam Pilafian, features truly phenomenal charts made popular by the Stan Kenton Orchestra and performed with the enormously powerful sound of thirteen horns and jazz rhythm section. Boston Brass and the Brass All-Stars Big Band will begin touring “A Stan Kenton Christmas” in December 2006 and future holiday seasons.
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Jim Self Set To Receive 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award from International Tuba Euphonium Association (ITEA)
July 9, 2008, 10:46 am
Filed under: Artist Profiles | Tags: , , , ,

Famed tuba player and educator Jim Self will receive the 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Tuba Euphonium Association (ITEA). The award will be given to Mr. Self at the ITEA National Conference taking place June 2008 at the University of Cincinnati’s Conservatory of Music.

Jim Self

A Yamaha Artist since 1990, Self is the Principal Tuba with the Pasadena and Pacific Symphonies, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Los Angeles Opera and Opera Pacific orchestras. He performs on the YCB-822, YCB-822, YCB-826, and YEB-322 Yamaha instruments. Based in Los Angeles, Self is a veteran of over 1000 motion picture scores, hundreds of television shows and movies.

A three time winner of the Most Valuable Player Award for Tuba by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), he was the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award by Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Self has also served as ITEA President, and has also been on the faculty of the University of Tennessee. Additionally, Self is a former member of the United States Army Band.

Born in 1943 in Franklin, Pennsylvania, Self holds degrees from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Catholic University and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Southern California, where he is Adjunct Professor of tuba and chamber music.

He has served on the faculty of the Music Academy of the West, Mancini Institute and the Hamamatsu Wind Festival and Academy in Japan. While Self plays numerous low-brass and bass instruments, including the bass trombone, cimbasso, contra-bass trombone, and string and electric basses, he is most well known for his performances and compositions on the tuba.

As a published composer and arranger, Self has composed numerous compositions for brass, strings, woodwind chamber ensembles, works for band, orchestra solo tuba and trombone. The Pacific Symphony recently commissioned him to write a feature work for the orchestra called “Tour de Force”. The 13 minute piece was recently premiered at the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Hall in Orange County, CA.

The Lifetime Achievement Award is presented by ITEA to recognize individuals who have made significant and distinguished contributions to the organization and tuba-playing through performance, composition and education. Self has dedicated his life to sharing a passion for the tuba on an international level through performing, composing and conducting global clinics.

View Tuba selection at Dolphin

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