Audience favorite Canadian Brass will join the Eastman Wind Ensemble at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 28, in the Eastman Theatre for a concert kicking off the Ensemble’s recording for their new CD Manhattan Music.
The gala performance, under Eastman Wind Ensemble Conductor Mark Davis Scatterday, promises an exciting program that includes a salute to ensemble founder Frederick Fennel and composer John Philip Sousa. In addition, the ensemble will perform a new work by Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra Pops conductor Jeff Tyzik and join the Canadian Brass on Duke Ellington’s “It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got that Swing.”
The evening’s repertoire also includes Manhattan Music by Bramwell Tovey; Michael Sweeney’s Suite from Bernstein’s Mass; and Scatterday’s arrangement of Shaker Suite by Rayburn Wright, former director of jazz studies at the Eastman School of Music.
Admission to the concert is $10 for the general public. Tickets can be purchased at the RPO Box Office, 108 East Ave.; by phone, (585) 454-2100; or online at esm.rochester.edu/concerts. University of Rochester ID holders are admitted free.
The Eastman Wind Ensemble heads into the studio on Saturday, Sept. 29, to begin recording for the group’s newest album. Over its 55-year history, the Ensemble has made dozens of recordings on the Mercury, Sony, Warner Brothers, and most recently, Summit Records labels, and has premiered more than 150 new works.
Composed of a core of about 50 undergraduate and graduate students of the Eastman School of Music, the ensemble has done major tours both across the country and abroad. The ensemble’s 2004 tour of Japan, its seventh in that nation, also included performances in Taiwan and China.
Canadian Brass is considered a pioneer in establishing the brass quintet as a serious concert ensemble. Founded in Toronto in 1970, the group has developed a repertoire of classical, popular, jazz and contemporary concert music that has created fans around the world. The group has made more than 60 recordings and eight videos, performed for visiting heads of states in Canada, and has appeared on television on such shows as Today, The Tonight Show, Evening at Pops, and numerous PBS specials.
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Calendar listing:
Friday, September 28
8 p.m.
Eastman Wind Ensemble with special guests Canadian Brass
Eastman Theatre
26 Gibbs St.
General admission $10 (UR ID holders admitted free), can be purchased at the Rochester Philharmonic Box Office, 108 East Ave.; by phone (585) 454-2100; or online at esm.rochester.edu/concerts.