Media Contact(s): Marni Carfley | Gateways Music Festival | 585-274-1127 | mcarfley@esm.rochester.edu
Show Info: Gateways Facebook Page
Fringe Info: rochesterfringe.com, www.facebook.com/RochesterFringeFestival, @RochesterFringe, instagram.com/rochester_fringe, #rocfringe19, #leapalittle
Gateways Music Festival, Kodak Hall, Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY. Photo by Keith Bullis, media services manager, Eastman Institute for Oral Health, http://www.rochester.edu
The Gateways Brass Collective will perform at the 2019 KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival on Saturday, September 14, 2019 at Hatch Recital Hall (Eastman School of Music, 433 East Main Street). Tickets are $22 and available on the Fringe website. Remaining tickets will be available at the door starting one hour before curtain.
Paul Burgett (1946-2018) was a beloved friend of the Rochester Fringe Festival and the Gateways Music Festival. This performance features some of the music Paul loved most – from classical to jazz – played by Gateways Music Festival’s Brass Collective, a national touring group featuring Courtney Jones and Herb Smith, trumpet; Eric Davis, French horn; Isrea Butler, trombone; and Richard White, tuba.
The Collective’s members are participants in the Gateways Music Festival, a Rochester-based summer music festival featuring professional classical musicians of African descent. Collective leader, trombonist Isrea Butler, says that “the Collective has been well received everywhere we go, but especially at Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs), where it is rare to hear a classical music ensemble of professional black musicians.”
Described as a “brass quintet for the 21st century,” Gateways Brass Collective’s diverse repertoire ‒ from “traditional” to Jazz, R&B and soul ‒ demonstrates that artistic excellence and versatility work well together. The Collective, co-sponsored by the Gateways Music Festival and instrument manufacturer Conn-Selmer, has performed before full and appreciative houses throughout the country in its inaugural year.
Gateways Music Festival’s President & Artistic Director Lee Koonce said, “I am especially excited about this performance because it will be a demonstration of Paul’s broad ranging musical tastes.” He went on to add, “Although Paul was a classically trained violinist, many people don’t know that he also played tuba in the United States Army Reserves in the 1960s – so a brass ensemble performance is quite fitting.”
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About Rochester Fringe: Since its debut in 2012, the KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival has become one of the most successful fringe festivals in the U.S., attracting more than 78,000 attendees in 2018. Now a 12-day event, this multi-genre arts festival boasts over 570 performances and events – more than 150 of which are free – in 20+ venues in downtown Rochester, NY. Celebrating and inspiring creativity, the Fringe – which is partially curated by the non-profit festival and partially by festival venues – includes everything from theatre, music, comedy and dance, to children’s entertainment, spoken word, visual arts, film and much more. Please visit rochesterfringe.com for a complete schedule, tickets, and more information.
About Gateways Music Festival: The mission of Gateways Music Festival is to connect and support professional classical musicians of African descent and enlighten and inspire communities through the power of performance. Founded in 1993 by concert pianist and now-retired Eastman School of Music associate professor Armenta Hummings Dumisani, Gateways attracts 125 musicians to Rochester, New York, from across the United States and abroad for more than 50 performances throughout the Rochester area. In May 2016, Gateways Music Festival formally associated with the Eastman School of Music, a Festival partner since 1995.
About the Eastman School of Music: The Eastman School of Music was founded in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman (1854-1932), founder of Eastman Kodak Company. It was the first professional school of the University of Rochester. Mr. Eastman’s dream was that his school would provide a broad education in the liberal arts as well as superb musical training. The current dean is Jamal Rossi, appointed in 2014.
More than 900 students are enrolled in the Collegiate Division of the Eastman School of Music—about 500 undergraduates and 400 graduate students. They come from almost every state, and approximately 23 percent are from other countries. They are taught by a faculty comprised of more than 130 highly regarded performers, composers, conductors, scholars, and educators. They are Pulitzer Prize winners, Grammy winners, Emmy Winners, Guggenheim Fellows, ASCAP Award recipients, published authors, recording artists, and acclaimed musicians who have performed in the world’s greatest concert halls. Each year, Eastman’s students, faculty members, and guest artists present more than 900 concerts to the Rochester community.
Gateways Music Festival in association with Eastman School of Music
26 Gibbs Street, Box 58
Rochester, NY 14604
info@gatewaysmusicfestival.org| www.gatewaysmusicfestival.org| (585) 232-6106
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