Three Brass Bands in One Concert

Here is a special event:

Three Brass Bands in the area will come together for a joint concert:  the Chicago Brass Band, the Madison Brass Band, and the Milwaukee Festival Brass will join together for the second annual Brass At The Border!

All three groups are very accomplished.  All three groups will be performing wonderful music.  The format of the event was designed to foster goodwill, fellowship, and mutual support of each other.  Their goals are all the same:  keep the tradition of the Brass Band, which started over 150 years ago, alive in the US.

The concert will begin at 3 PM at the Milton High School at 114 W. High Street in Milton, WI.

Three groups in one concert....you don't want to miss this one!

Something new: The Lynx Project

I learned of a group of artists that will be performing in Milwaukee on Tuesday March 8:  The Lynx Project.  This group consists of graduates of the Eastman School of Music and their goal is to mix music with poetry, storytelling, dance, and other arts.  What a great concept!

Specifically, the Lynx Project will perform Tangled Webs, featuring music of Schubert, Schoenberg, and Mozart.  The concert begins at 7:30 at the North Short Congregational Church in Fox Point, on Santa Monica Drive between Calumet Road and Green Tree Road.  See their web site for all the details.

And don't forget the Milwaukee Festival Brass Concert on Saturday the 27th at the Performing Arts Center at Pius XI High School.  See you there.

Special News

It isn't often that I post news during the week, but I just received this news and it cannot wait!

A free concert is set for Wednesday March 16 at 7PM by the US Air Force Band of Mid-America Concert Band, to be held at the Marcus Center.  No tickets will be required; all you need to do is show up and enjoy the performance. 

The press release from the band gives this summary:

The Concert Band is a group of 45 professional musicians whose music inspires patriotism, connects communities with military service members and honors our country's veterans.

 

During a concert, you are just as likely to hear the music of contemporary composers as you would the familiar sounds of John Phillip Sousa or Maj. Glenn Miller. The band also features vocal soloists singing a wide variety of popular, classical and patriotic selections.

 

The concert will be enjoyable and appropriate for all ages.  These concerts are great for students who are just starting out and sometimes struggling with their instruments.  They hear a group like this perform, and they become more enthusiastic, practice harder, and then they improve.  Concerts like this can start that ball rolling for students.  And the best part is that the parents will enjoy the evening as well, with no dent to the wallet!

 

Mark your calendar.  You don't want to miss this one.

Concert Preview: Milwaukee Festival Brass

The next concert by the Milwaukee Festival Brass will be on Saturday February 27 at 7 PM at the Father Robert V. Carney Performing Arts Center in Pius XI High School, located at 135 N. 76th Street in Milwaukee, just north of I-94.  The program is entitled Virtuoso Brass.

Rather than my trying to summarize the program, here are some comments from the MFB Music Director Mark Taylor:


From its humble beginnings as a response to poor social conditions in the rapidly industrializing northern towns of 19th century England, the brass band has always been the people’s orchestra: an ensemble for the community. But with limited resources and little training, those early musicians had to perform the only music available for them, which was often parts for a symphony orchestra. Musical necessity became the mother of technical invention, and brass players quickly learned to play music that had originally been intended for the more nimble string or woodwind instruments. Fast forward to today, when brass bands around the world have a repertoire all their own, yet one that leans heavily on their legacy of being populated by some of the most accomplished amateur musicians in the world.

 That tradition continues in present day Milwaukee, when musicians from an incredibly diverse array of communities, professions, and generations meet weekly to form the Milwaukee Festival Brass.

The concert will open with Festmusik der Stadt Wien by Richard Strauss, a stirring fanfare originally written for a city-wide Viennese celebration. Two members of Milwaukee Festival Brass will be featured as soloists in tour-de-force performances, as euphoniumist David Meyer gives the Milwaukee-area premiere of Peter Graham’s In League With Extraordinary Gentlemen. Nathaniel Esten, a member of MFB’s High School Apprentice Program, will display his slide mastery in Tommy Dorsey’s swinging classic, Trombonology. The band’s newly named Assistant Conductor, Tyler Burmeister, will lead the band in a stirring British march, The Gladiator’s Farewell.  And the band will cap off its virtuosic demonstration with the hair-raising finale from Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4.


Tickets are $12, $9 for seniors and students, and group rates are available.  For more information, see the MFB website.

Young Artist Scholarship Competition coming up

The Lakeshore Symphonic Band will hold its annual Young Artist competition on Wednesday evening March 2.  Student musicians from area school bands are encouraged to audition.  The winner of the competition will perform a solo piece with the band at the LSB concert on Sunday May 22.  Previous winners come from all types of wind and percussion instruments.  This is a great opportunity for the budding musician.

Please see the LSB web site for all the details and the application.  Applicants must have all materials submitted by February 19.

Good luck to all!