Canadian Brass to Join Principal Brass Quintet for Holiday Brass Concert, 12/13

The Canadian Brass will join the New York Philharmonic Principal Brass Quintet for the 20th season of its annual Holiday Brass concert, Sunday, December 13, 2015, at 3:00 p.m. The performance will feature seasonal favorites from the Baroque to contemporary; the program will be announced at a later date.

The Canadian Brass joined New York Philharmonic brass members for the inaugural Holiday Brass concert, in December 1995, and have returned for 11 subsequent Holiday Brass concerts. The New York Philharmonic Principal Brass Quintet made its debut in 1983 when they joined the Canadian Brass for a concert in Ottawa, Canada. Since then, the two brass quintets have made joint performances not only at the Philharmonic Holiday Brass concerts in New York City, but also at summer festivals throughout the United States; concerts in cities throughout Canada and the United States; and on four recordings.

Celebrating its 45th season, Canadian Brass is made up of Chuck Daellenbach, tuba; Achilles Liarmakopoulos, trombone; Bernhard Scully, horn; and Caleb Hudson and Christopher Coletti, trumpets. The New York Philharmonic Principal Brass Quintet features Acting Principal Trumpet Matthew Muckey, trumpet Ethan Bensdorf, horn player Richard Deane, Principal Trombone Joseph Alessi, and Principal Tuba Alan Baer.

Artists
With an international reputation as one of the most popular brass ensembles today, Canadian Brass (Chuck Daellenbach, tuba; Achilles Liarmakopoulos, trombone; Bernhard Scully, horn; and Caleb Hudson and Christopher Coletti, trumpets) has developed an engaging rapport with audiences. The ensemble's varied repertoire, which ranges from the Baroque to Dixieland, features brass standards; critically acclaimed new compositions from Michael Kamen, Luther Henderson, Bramwell Tovey, Don Gillis, and others; and a wide-ranging library of more than 600 original arrangements. The group has a discography of more than 130 albums and continues to appear on the Billboard chart. With an extensive worldwide touring schedule, Canadian Brass was a pioneer in bringing brass music to mass audiences throughout the U.S., Canada, Japan, and Europe. The ensemble has also toured South America, the Soviet Union, the Middle East, and Australia; was the first brass ensemble from the West to perform in the People's Republic of

China; and was the first brass group to perform on the main stage at Carnegie Hall. Committed to education and training the next generation of players, Canadian Brass is currently ensemble-in- residence at the University of Toronto, after having been chamber quintet-in-residence for many years at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California. The group also created an innovative brass summer course at the Eastman School of Music, and it works with El Sistema, the acclaimed global music education program in Venezuela. Canadian Brass has appeared on The Tonight Show, TODAY, Sesame Street, and Entertainment Tonight and performed for more than half a billion television viewers in China on Chinese New Year. They have appeared on Evening at Pops with John Williams and the Boston Pops, Beverly Sills' Music Around the World, and on the sound track to the 1988 film The Couch Trip starring Dan Aykroyd and Walter Matthau.

The New York Philharmonic Principal Brass Quintet enjoys worldwide exposure and an international reputation. The members of the group are Philharmonic Acting Principal Trumpet Matthew Muckey, trumpet Ethan Bensdorf, horn player Richard Deane, Principal Trombone Joseph Alessi, and Principal Tuba Alan Baer. The ensemble's debut came at the invitation of the Canadian Brass, when they joined that ensemble in a 1983 concert in Ottawa, Canada. The two groups have since collaborated at the summer festivals of Tanglewood, Wolf Trap, Great Woods, and Mostly Mozart; with their brass colleagues from the Boston Symphony Orchestra and The Philadelphia Orchestra on five recordings and one educational video; and for performances in cities throughout Canada and the United States. Since 1995 the New York Philharmonic Principal Brass Quintet has hosted an annual Holiday Brass concert at Lincoln Center. Its guests have included groups such as the Canadian Brass and the German Brass. The Principal Brass Quintet also joined forces with the Salvation Army's New York Staff Band in two Gala Festivals at Alice Tully Hall in New York City. In addition, the Principal Brass Quintet performed with the Empire Brass at the Carnegie Hall Centennial Gala in May 1991. The New York Philharmonic Principal Brass Quintet has been a regular encore feature on the Orchestra's tours, with appearances in Europe, South America, Asia, and in the U.S., as well as at the Orchestra's residencies in Cagliari, Italy and Vail, Colorado; the group also represented the Philharmonic for special occasions such as the opening of the Upper West Side Apple Store (in 2009), the opening of UNIQLO's Fifth Avenue flagship store (2014), and a free performance at Zurich's Main Station as part of the Orchestra's EUROPE / SPRING 2013 tour. The ensemble has performed solo concerts throughout the U.S. and Japan, and in the cities of Luxembourg and Monterrey (Mexico).

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