The 30th season of the Quad City Wind Ensemble (QCWE) continues with a free holiday concert featuring the Big River Brass Band (BRBB).  The concert will be Sunday, December 13 at 3:00 p.m. in the Galvin Fine Arts Center, 517 W. Locust St., on the campus of St. Ambrose University in Davenport, IA.  The event is free and open to the public.  This is the 4th year the BRBB has been featured during the holiday QCWE concert.

The QCWE is conducted by Brian Hughes, who was recently named a finalist in The American Prize award for band/wind ensemble conducting.  In 2012 the QCWE was the Community Division winner of The American Prize in Band/Wind Ensemble Performance.  The QCWE was founded in 1987 by Dr. Charles B. DCamp of St. Ambrose University, and has become one of the finest adult bands in the nation.  For additional information, please visit www.qcwindensemble.org, or http://www.facebook.com/qcwindensemble.  Please contact info@qcwindensemble.org for further information about the Quad City Wind Ensemble.

The BRBB was co-founded by Ed Butterfield, retired band director for Rock Island High School and Jerry Miller, John Deere retiree.  Miller saw a picture of the Deere Cornet Band in a book about Deere's history and decided to revive a brass band using Deere employees in order to carry on the Deere tradition.  Ed Butterfield later retired as director and was succeeded by current conductor Brian Burke. Since 2006, regular concerts have been played in Aledo, Geneseo, Rock Island, Moline, Bettendorf, and at the Festival of Trees in Davenport. The BRBB plays in the style of European brass bands and draws literature from classic brass band, jazz arrangements for brass band, and continues to search for new music.  For additional information, please visit their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/bigriverbrassband

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