Chicago Gargoyle Brass and Organ Ensemble to Present 'Seascapes'

The Chicago Gargoyle Brass and Organ Ensemble will give the world premiere of a new arrangement of Benjamin Britten's evocative "Four Sea Interludes and Passacaglia" from his dramatic opera "Peter Grimes" at concerts at 4 p.m. on Sunday, February 21, at First United Church of Oak Park, 848 Lake St, Oak Park, Ill.; 7:30 p.m. on Friday, March 4, at First Congregational United Church of Christ, 256 Chicago St., Elgin, Ill.; and 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 6, at St. Michael Catholic Church, 310 S. Wheaton Ave., Wheaton, Ill.

The arrangement, commissioned by the professional chamber ensemble and written by Craig Garner, is based on Britten's own, widely performed orchestral version of the same music, which mirrors the plot and setting of a tragic story that unfolds in an English seacoast village.

WFMT radio host Lisa Flynn will interview Garner during a pre-concert discussion on February 21.

Admission to the Elgin and Wheaton concerts is free to the general public. Tickets to the Oak Park performance can be purchased through the ensemble's website, gargoylebrass.com.

The Gargoyle's nautical-themed concert program, titled "Seascapes: Music from Britten's' Peter Grimes,'" will include the world premiere of another newly commissioned arrangement: Garner's "Suite from Water Music," based on G. F. Handel's popular baroque masterpiece.

"Listeners will experience a deluge of water-themed delights," says Rodney Holmes, artistic director of Chicago Gargoyle Brass and Organ Ensemble.

In addition, the program, conducted by Stephen Squires, will offer Claude Debussy's French impressionist "La cathédrale engloutie" (The Sunken Cathedral), written for and performed on solo piano; and the "Russian Sailor's Dance" from Reinhold Glière's ballet "The Red Poppy."

Concertgoers will also hear Britten's "Fanfare for St. Edmondsbury," Vaughn Williams' "Two Preludes for Organ" ("Bryn Calfaria" and "Rhosymedre"), and Michael Burkhardt's organ and brass arrangement of the hymn "You Call Us, Lord, to Be," based on a Welsh folk tune.

Tickets and Information

Single tickets for the February 21 concert in Oak Park are $15 adult general admission and $10 for students. Tickets are available at gargoylebrass.com or by calling 800-838-3006. No tickets are required for the March performances in Elgin and Wheaton, which are free to the general public.

Chicago Gargoyle Brass and Organ Ensemble

"The Chicago Gargoyle Brass and Organ Ensemble plays with warmth, elegance, and panache," said U.S. music magazine Fanfare in a review of the ensemble's newly released debut CD "Flourishes, Tales and Symphonies" on the MSR Classics label. "[They] are perfect companions for the music lover in need of calming nourishment."

The group takes its whimsical name from the stone figures atop Gothic buildings at the University of the Chicago, where the now-professional ensemble got its start in 1992 as a brass quintet of faculty and students. Under its founder and artistic director Holmes, it has evolved over the decades into an independent organization of classically trained musicians that focuses on commissioning and performing groundbreaking new works and arrangements for brass and pipe organ.

The ensemble performs throughout the Chicago area and in neighboring Midwest states. Website is gargoylebrass.com.

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