Empire Brass concert set for 8 p.m. tonight

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (March 6, 2003) — World-renowned quintet Empire Brass has played New York, Boston, Chicago, London, Zurich and Tokyo — and at 8 p.m. on Monday, March 17, the group will perform at Tennessee Tech University’s Wattenbarger Auditorium.

Presenting more than 100 concerts a year, the group has gained an international reputation as North America’s finest brass ensemble. With a number of best-selling recordings on the Telarc label, Empire Brass has also introduced an even larger worldwide audience to brass music ranging from Bach and Handel to jazz and Broadway pieces.

"If there is a brass quintet that has more charisma, virtuosity and imagination than Empire Brass, it hasn’t played Chicago," says a Chicago Tribune review.

The group has been awarded a number of awards, including the Naumberg Prize and the Harvard Music Association Award.
It’s made up of five musicians — Michelle Perry, French horn; Mark Hetzler, trombone; Kenneth Amis, tuba; and Rolf Smedvig and Marc Reese, trumpet.

Each have held leading positions with major American orchestras, and the ensemble itself has also performed with a variety of major symphony orchestras, such as the New York Philharmonic, Zurich’s Tonhalle Orchestra and the Boston Symphony.
In addition to performing regularly in Europe and the United States, Empire Brass has toured the Far East sixteen times and has played to standing-room crowds in the former Soviet Union.

A Center Stage event, the concert is free and open to the public.

--Tracey LeFevre

This information posted 17 March 2003