October 27, 2006 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact:
Lara Hoyt, Coordinator for Public Relations and Alumni Affairs
Rutgers Brass presents "Brass Ancient and Modern" New Brunswick, NJ – Rutgers Brass, the top brass ensemble at Mason Gross School of the Arts, presents “Brass Ancient and Modern” at Nicholas Music Center on Saturday, November 11 at 8 p.m. The program offers a rich sample of the distinctive and contrasting sounds of music composed for brass over five centuries. Along with the 16-member Rutgers Brass, the concert will include performances by a large horn ensemble and the Rutgers Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble. Admission is free and open to the public, and no tickets are required.
The program will open with the Rutgers Undergraduate Brass Ensemble performing three pieces for brass composed in the latter 20th century. They will be conducted by doctoral students Riccardo Cox, Ian Zook and John Dorn. Following will be the deep, unusually expressive sound of the Rutgers Tuba-Euphonium ensemble, conducted by faculty artist Scott Mendoker. The majestic sound of 12 horns, conducted by horn professor Douglas Lundeen, will complete the first part of the program.
Rutgers Brass, conducted by Professor Scott Whitener, will perform the finale. One of Sir Arthur Bliss’s majestic brilliant fanfares written in his capacity as Master of the Queen’s Music will open this part of the program. “Fanfare for the Lord Mayor of London” is composed for full orchestral brass. A special feature of the program will be the very first performance of Steven Holochwost’s “Dialogues for Brass Ensemble,” a beautiful piece based on the music of the 15th century composer Johannes Ockeghem and his student Josquin Deprez. Holochwost has skillfully interwoven motives from the two composers in his own special way to form a deeply expressive dialogue between teacher and student on Ockeghem’s death. Next is the late Dutch composer Jan Koetsier’s Brass Symphony, op. 80 (1979). This is a wonderful piece, written in a light vein for the ten soloists of the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble of London. Virtuosic in composition, the three-movement work ranges from a blues interlude in the second movement to a rousing brass band rondo in the finale. One of the great figures of early 17th century English music was Orlando Gibbons. Rutgers Brass will perform one of his magnificent “In Nomines,” a special type of English instrumental contrapuntal compositions based on the Benedictus movement of the Tudor composer John Taverner’s “Missa Gloria in Tibi Trinitas.” The arrangement was made for Canadian Brass and the Berlin Philharmonic Brass Ensemble. The concert will conclude with a rousing performance of the “Dansereye,” 1551, by Tielman Susato, a Flemish composer-performer whose dances were known throughout the courts of Europe in the 16th century. The arrangement performed was written for the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble of London.
Rutgers Brass will again perform these pieces in a special concert at Kirkpatrick Chapel on Thursday, November 30 at 8 p.m. Entitled “Festive Brass,” the program will include an informal presentation on the music by Whitener. Nicholas Music Center is in the Mason Gross Performing Arts Center, 85 George Street (between Route 18 and Ryders Lane), on the Douglass campus of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Kirkpatrick Chapel is at 81 Somerset Street in downtown New Brunswick.
For more information on any Mason Gross event, visit www.masongross.rutgers.edu or call the Mason Gross Performing Arts Center ticket office at 732-932-7511. About Rutgers Brass Following in the great tradition of the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, German Brass, London Brass, and Summit Brass, Rutgers Brass was founded by Professor Scott Whitener in 1993 to perform the great masterworks for brass and percussion. This virtuosic group is known for the brilliance of its performances in Renaissance, Baroque, and 20th century music. The basic instrumentation is 10 players, all soloists chosen by audition, with additional players added for larger works. The group comprises doctoral, masters, and advanced undergraduate students. A number of former members of Rutgers Brass have attained distinguished careers in the world of brass: Sean Jones, Jazz trumpet professor at Duquesne University and lead trumpet with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Brian Chin, principal trumpet of the Tacoma Symphony, Brian Appleby-Wineberg, trumpet professor at Rowen University, Paul Mergen, tubist of the United States Marine Band, Washington D.C., Randall Tinnin, trumpet professor at the University of North Florida and winner of the North American Brass Band Solo Cornet Competition, George Curran, principal bass trombone with the Atlanta Symphony, Marcia Medrano, trombone professor at Mexico City University, Greg Campbell, principal trombone of the Orquesta Sinfonica de Monterrey, Mexico, Jamie Thorne, principal horn of the United States Coast Guard Band, and Dan Howard, principal bass trombone of the Tacoma Symphony. About Mason Gross School of the Arts Founded in 1976, Mason Gross School of the Arts is the arts conservatory of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and is home to the departments of dance, music, theater arts, and visual arts. Its faculty and alumni rosters include arts professionals recognized nationally and internationally. The school's enrollment of 625 undergraduates across four departments and 250 graduate students across three departments, combined with a faculty of 140, assures students the opportunity to work closely with accomplished artists within their fields.
About Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey A comprehensive research institution with more than 50,000 students on three main campuses in New Brunswick, Newark and Camden, Rutgers comprises one of the major state university systems in the nation. Chartered in 1766 in New Brunswick as Queen's College, Rutgers is the eighth oldest institution of higher learning in the nation and now comprises 29 degree- granting divisions, including 16 offering graduate programs of study.
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