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MAY
9,
2022
Concert for Ukraine
Sherith Israel, San Francisco
7:30 PM
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JULY
5,
2016
The Art of Bay Brass Concert
Stanford Memorial Church
Stanford University, Stanford
7:00 PM
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DECEMBER
8,
2015
A Brass & Organ Christmas
Grace Cathedral, San Francisco
7:30 PM
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JUNE
29,
2015
Bay Brass Concert
Stanford Memorial Church
Stanford University, Stanford
7:00 PM
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DECEMBER
9,
2014
A Brass & Organ Christmas
Grace Cathedral, San Francisco
7:30 PM
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SEPTEMBER
21,
2014
SF Friends of Chamber Music
Bay Brass Concert
San Francisco Conservatory
of Music Concert Hall
12:00 Noon
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JULY
14,
2014
Bay Brass Concert
Stanford Memorial Church
Stanford University, Stanford
8:00 PM
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FEBRUARY
24,
2014
Bay Brass Concert
San Francisco Conservatory
of Music Concert Hall
8:00 PM
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JULY
9,
2013
Bay Brass & Robert Morgan
Stanford Memorial Church
Stanford University, Stanford
8:00 PM
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JULY
10,
2012
Bay Brass & Robert Morgan
Stanford Memorial Church
Stanford University, Stanford
8:00 PM
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FEBRUARY
28,
2012
Bay Brass "Birthdays and Anniversaries"
Concert
San Francisco Conservatory
of Music Concert Hall
8:00 PM
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MARCH
27,
2011
Bay Brass Celebration Concert
San Francisco Conservatory
of Music Concert Hall
7:00 PM
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Bay
Brass Celebration
Concert
San Francisco Conservatory of
Music Concert Hall
San Francisco, CA
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On
March 27, 2011 at 7 pm,
The Bay Brass celebrated
the release of their
newest CD "Sound the
Bells! American
Premieres for Brass"
with a performance at
the San Francisco
Conservatory of Music
which included music
from the album.
Featuring works by John
Williams, Michael Tilson
Thomas, Bruce Broughton,
Morten Lauridsen, Kevin
Puts and Scott Hiltzik,
the disc is now
available in hybrid SACD
format on the
Harmonia
Mundi
label. The concert
featured the Bay Brass
commissioned work,
"Fanfares, Marches,
Hymns and Finale" by
Bruce Broughton, with
the composer conducting.
Additional works from
the CD by John Williams
and Morton Lauridsen
were also performed, as
well as works by Eric
Ewazen, Heinrich Schutz,
Robert Spittal, Johann
Topff, Pat Metheny, and
others. A concert review
follows.
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A
Joyful Sound with Bay
Brass
featured in StarkInsider,
SF Bay
Area
BY Cy Ashley Webb
Bay Brass CD Release Celebration
Concert
(Outstanding - Starkie!)
Conductor ~ Stuart Chafetz
March 27, 2011
Richard
Wagner supposedly said something
to the effect of "Don't look at
the trombones, it only encourages
them." However, Wagner was
wrong about many things, and this
is certainly one more for the
list. If you never thought
of the trombone as an melodic
instrument, listening to Bay
Brass will clear up that
misconception -- along with many
others.
However,
as usual, I'm getting ahead of
myself. Bay Brass consists
of musicians from the San
Francisco Symphony, the San
Francisco Ballet Orchestra, the
Silicon Valley Symphony and the
San Francisco Opera Orchestra.
These guys (a gender-neutral
term) are the best of the best,
and when they're having fun with
their music it shows. Accessible
and packed with dramatic tension,
you'll never think about brass
the same way again.
Sunday's
concert celebrated the release of
their new CD, Sound the Bells!
The evening opened, appropriately
enough, with John Williams
Fanfare for a Festive Occasion.
If you ever labored on the
misconception that all brass
sounded like Herb Alpert, this
concert would have shaken that
notion right out of you.
Unlike other brass
performances, the sonorities and
colors of this were highly
variable, ranging from the
tension packed into the
Finale Suite for Five Trumpets,
to the deep resonance of the horn
in Lobet Herrn, to the quiet
restraint of Morten Lauridsen's O
Magnum Mysterium. Hearing
anything by Lauridsen is always a
pleasure -- and one I didn't
anticipate finding here. This
piece glows with a quiet
nobility. The crescendo roughly
two-thirds into the piece leads
to the expectation that it would
end there, but it surprises you
as the music stills and
insistently goes some place else
where it quietly resolves with
grace and perfect harmony.
One could want no
more.
After
intermission, guest conductor
Bruce Broughton took the podium
for his performance of Fanfares,
Marches, Hymns and Finale.
Listening to this work in it's
totality, instead of the short
snippet that appears on NPR's
election programming was a
treasure. I was surprised to
learn that this work had been
specifically commissioned for Bay
Brass. Premiering in 2002, it has
quite taken on a life of it's
own.
With
the critic's need to find
something to gripe about, my only
lament is that Aram
Khachaturian's Sabre Dance didn't
make it to the CD. Performed by
four trombones, the pulsating
intensity of this piece was
broken only by the searing,
downward arches of notes. I've
heard many versions of this and
nothing's come close to this
electrifying performance.
Hopefully they'll play it again
at their next concert on July 12
at Stanford's Memorial
Church.
In
the meantime, I'm holding out for
new speakers. I don't know if
it's possible to reproduce the
depth and resonance of the music
played by Bay Brass last night,
but it's worth the exploration
because I've got to hear them
again and again. If the new Bay
Brass CD was eight years in the
making, its the the least I can
do.
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