Tuesday, March 5
Rock Island Public Library, 401 19th Street, Rock Island IL (noon)
Friday, March 8
Bettendorf Public Library, 2950 Learning Campus Drive, Bettendorf IA (noon)
West Music Quad Cities, 4305 44th Avenue, Moline IL (4 p.m.)
With Juilliard School chairman Raymond Mase calling them “an outstanding young group bringing fresh ideas to brass chamber music,” the five gifted musicians of the Gaudete Brass Quinet deliver a trio of Quad City Visiting Artist performances on March 5 and 8, demonstrating why Time Out Chicago praised the group's “individual player prowess convincingly consolidated into a pentagram of tonal color.”
“Gaudete” (pronounced gow-day-tay) is a form of the Latin word for “joy,” and the group's biography on its GaudeteBrass.com Web site states, “We support the idea that chamber music, even – and perhaps especially – the serious kind, can powerfully communicate both the poignant and the exuberant.” Since 2004, the Gaudete Brass Quintet has committed itself to presenting serious brass chamber music through concerts, recordings, and the commissions of new works. Among its credits, the ensemble has engaged in live performances at venues such as Merkin Hall and Symphony Space in New York City and Millennium Park in Chicago, commissioned new works from noted composers such as David Sampson, Jonathan Newman, John Cheetham, Steven Bryant, and Stacy Garrop, and appeared on radio broadcasts on WFMT in Chicago and Nashville Public Radio.
While maintaining a demanding performance schedule, the quintet – currently composed of Bill Baxtresser and Charles Roberts on trumpet, Joanna Schulz on horn, Scott Tegge on tuba, and Paul Von Hoff on trombone – has recorded three albums: 2006's Brass Outings, 2011's Conversations in Time with organist R. Benjamin Dobey, and 2012's Chicago Moves, produced by Grammy winner Judith Sherman. Gaudete Brass has also presented educational programs and concerts at prominent institutions including the Juilliard School, Eastman School of Music, and Arizona State University, and in the fall of 2013 the musicians joined Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts faculty as the institution's ensemble-in-residence.
The Gaudete Brass Quintet will perform selections from their vast repertoire at the Rock Island Public Library's Downtown Branch on March 5 at noon, and will follow it with a pair of concert events on March 8: at the Bettendorf Public Library at noon, and at West Music Quad Cities at 4 p.m. Admission to all three concerts is free, and more information on the group's area visit is available by calling (309)793-1213 or visiting QuadCityArts.com.
