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Mason Gross School of the Arts Brass Ensemble to Perform

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NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ - On Saturday evening at 8:00 p.m., November 13, an exciting program of brass music will resound through the Nicholas Music Center in the Mason Gross Performing Arts Center on the Douglass College campus of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Gala Brass will feature the brilliant sound of the Rutgers Brass Ensemble, a trombone octet, horn quartet, an ensemble of tubas, and one of Rutgers' distinguished faculty artists as soloist. The concert is free and no tickets are required.

The program offers a rich sample of the distinctive and contrasting sounds of music composed for brass from the Renaissance to the present day. Faculty artist Douglas Lundeen is among America's leading natural horn soloists. Winner of the International Horn Society's natural horn competition, Professor Lundeen performs and records with leading authentic instrument ensembles, such as the Washington Bach Society, New York Baroque Orchestra, Boston Handel and Haydn Society, and Toronto's Tafelmusik. He will be featured in a virtuoso solo for the valve horn, Dukas' Villanelle.

The deep resonance of the Rutgers Tuba ensemble, which consists of five euphoniums and seven tubas and is conducted by faculty artist Scott Mendoker, will be heard in Gabrieli's Canzona per sonare No. 2 and Neal Corwell's The Furies. Rutgers Brass Ensemble II, directed by Travis Heath, will play John Cheetham's Commemorative Fanfare. An ensemble of eight trombones will play a movement of Juilliard composer Eric Ewazen's Great Lakes Octet.

The finale of the concert will feature the thrilling sound of the Rutgers University Brass Ensemble, conducted by Professor Scott Whitener. Following in the great tradition of the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble of England and German Brass, the ensemble was founded in 1993 to perform brass masterworks at the highest level. This portion of the program will open with Australian composer David Stanhope's colorful Olympic Fireworks for full orchestral brass and percussion. Next is George Frideric Handel's beautiful Largo from Berenice and brilliant March from the Occasional Oratorio, performed in a vibrant transcription originally created for the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble of London.

One of the greatest classics for full orchestral brass and percussion is Eugene Bozza's haunting Ouverture pour une ceremonie. A deeply expressive and powerful work in the French style, it is believed that the piece recalls the Normandy invasion and its aftermath in France in June, 1944. This will be followed by Swiss composer Jean-Francois Michel's brilliant and virtuosic Don Quixote Rhapsody for ten brass players and three percussion. Influenced by the colorful effects in Ravel's Rhapsodie Espagnole and Debussy's Iberia, the Michel piece is a tour de force of virtuoso writing for brass, all within a genuine Spanish context. As has become traditional at these concerts, the program will conclude with music from Renaissance Venice by Giovanni Gabrieli for separated brass choirs.

For further information, call 732/932-7511 or visit www.masongross.rutgers.edu.

About the Rutgers Brass Ensemble
Following the great tradition of the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, London Brass, German Brass, and Summit Brass, the Rutgers University Brass Ensemble performs the great masterworks for brass from the Renaissance to the present day. The ensemble, founded in 1993, is conducted by Scott Whitener, the founder of the group and professor of music at Mason Gross School of the Arts.

About the Department of Music
The Department of Music at the Mason Gross School has a faculty of 36 full-time and 36 part-time members. There are approximately 460 students enrolled in its seven degree programs: Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Arts, Master of Music, Master of Arts, Artist Diploma, Doctor of Philosophy, and Doctor of Musical Arts. All of the music degree programs have as their common aim the development of well-educated professional musicians who have a deep historical and theoretical understanding of all aspects of music. The diversity of faculty specializations within the school provides a breadth of expertise rarely encountered in other programs.

About Mason Gross School of the Arts
Founded in 1976, Mason Gross School of the Arts is the arts conservatory of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and is home to the departments of dance, music, theater arts, and visual arts. Its faculty and alumni rosters include arts professionals recognized nationally and internationally. The school's enrollment of 625 undergraduates across four departments and 250 graduate students across three departments, combined with a faculty of 140, assures students the opportunity to work closely with accomplished artists within their fields.

About Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
A comprehensive research institution with more than 50,000 students on three main campuses in New Brunswick, Newark and Camden, Rutgers comprises one of the major state university systems in the nation. Chartered in 1766 in New Brunswick as Queen's College, Rutgers is the eighth oldest institution of higher learning in the nation and now comprises 29 degree-granting divisions, including 16 offering graduate programs of study.

Public Information
For more information about any Mason Gross event, visit our website at www.masongross.rutgers.edu or call the Mason Gross Performing Arts Center at 732/932-7511. Tickets are available by calling or visiting the PAC. Nicholas Music Center is located at 85 George Street on the Douglass College campus of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Programs and times subject to change. Special assistance available for persons with disabilities. Visual and listening assistance available upon advance request.

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