Trombonists from the Eastman School of Music, Ithaca College, and Penn State University will help open the Rochester Red Wings’ home season as part of the “Frühling Posaunen Festival” (Springtime Trombone Festival) this Saturday, April 11.
The annual festival, which alternates among the schools and is in its 20th year, will feature a free public concert at 4 p.m. in Eastman Theatre with students and faculty from participating schools as well as guest artists. The event is being held in conjunction with International Trombone Week and Smithsonian Jazz Appreciation Month.
Earlier in the day, event organizer and Eastman School Professor John Marcellus will be the “Drum Major” to lead 76-plus trombones performing the National Anthem at 1:30 p.m.at Frontier Field.
The 4 p.m. concert in Eastman Theatre will open with the 2009 Red Wings Baseball Odyssey Fanfare, based on the Richard Strauss composition “Thus Spake Zarathustra,” which was made famous in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. Joining the trombones will be musicians from the trumpet studio of Eastman Professor James Thompson as well as the Eastman Tuba Mirum Ensemble.
World-class trombonists who will be featured during the concert are Don Lucas, president of the International Trombone Association; Donal Bannister of the BBC Wales National Orchestra, who received his master’s degree at Eastman in 1984; Ithaca College Professor Harold Reynolds, who received his DMA at Eastman in 1989; Penn State Professor Mark Lusk, Eastman BM 81 and MM 83; and Marcellus.
A roster of famous Eastman percussionists will join the trombonists: Professor Emeritus John Beck; Professor Michael Burritt, who has performed on four continents and in nearly 40 states; Associate Professor Rich Thompson, MM ’84, who toured with the Count Basie Orchestra before being asked to join the Eastman faculty in 1996; and Dave Mancini BM ’74, who toured and performed with the Doc Severinsen Orchestra.
During the concert, Lucas will present a special award to the family of the late Emory Remington, professor of trombone at Eastman. Remington was a member of the Eastman faculty from 1922 to 1971 and is recognized as one of the outstanding brass instrument pedagogues in the world. He was a member of the original Eastman Theatre Orchestra, served as the first trombonist of the Rochester Philharmonic and Civic Orchestras until 1948, and founded the Eastman Trombone Choir in 1941. Remington died in 1971.
In addition to a free public concert, the annual Frühling Posaunen Festival includes master classes and exhibits for participants.
Marcellus, who has been on the Eastman faculty since 1978 and organized this year’s Springtime Trombone Festival, is a founding member of the International Trombone Association and co-founder of the Eastern Trombone Workshop and of the Marcellus-Melick Trombone Ensemble. He was Principal Trombone for the National Symphony in Washington, D.C., from 1965 to 1978, has been Principal Trombone of the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra since 1978, and music director of the Brighton Symphony Orchestra since 1980. He has also performed as a soloist in England, Germany, France and Japan as well as in the United States.
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Calendar Listing:
Saturday, April 11
4 p.m.
Frühling Posaunen Festival. Trombone choirs from Eastman School of Music, Ithaca College School of Music, and Penn State School of Music. Guest artists include trombonists Don Lucas, Donal Bannister, Hal Reynolds, Mark Lusk, John Marcellus, and percussionists John Beck, Michael Burritt, Dave Mancini, and Rich Thompson.
Eastman Theatre, 60 Gibbs St.
Free