2^nd Bull City Brass Bonanza at Trinity Church in Downtown Durham May 4

This preview has been provided by Bull City Brass Bonanza.

More than 30 brass players from throughout the Triangle will perform on the Second Annual Bull City Brass Bonanza on Sunday, May 4 at 3 p.m. in the sanctuary and choir lofts of Trinity United Methodist Church in downtown Durham. Admission to the concert is free. Voluntary contributions will be accepted to benefit the church’s ongoing organ restoration fund in this historic Durham landmark building.

Organized by Dr. Kent Foss, director of Brass Music at the church, the Brass Bonanza features four local brass ensembles performing on their own, and merging to form larger ensembles. The front and rear lofts of the church sanctuary will resound with antiphonal brass music by Giovanni Gabrieli, in the style of music heard in Italy’s St. Mark’s Cathedral in the 16^th and 17^th centuries. Fast-forward to the 21^st century for a world premiere performance of Geauga Fantasy for Brass Quintet, a 2013 work by Ohio composer Roy Hawthorne, performed by the Trinity Brass Quintet. The composer drew inspiration from the Indian heritage of the Geauga County (Ohio) region, and from several of its local traditions.

The Triangle Tuba Quartet, consisting of two euphoniums and two tubas, will offer a contemporary arrangement of Serenity Prayer, and The Conical Quartet, a group that performs on British-style brass instruments, will perform Divertimento by Philip Sparke, one of the most prolific composers for brass and wind bands living today.

The Trinity Trumpets — a sextet — will offer an arrangement of Duke Ellington’s I’m Beginning to See the Light, and the 13-member Durham Bullhorns — a brass and percussion ensemble — will play Trumpet Mambo, a 2012 composition by Brendan Collins commissioned by the International Trumpet Guild.  Featured soloist on that work will be jazz trumpeter Douglas McVey.

Brass Bonanza organizer Kent Foss, who received his DMA in Trumpet Performance from the well-regarded program at Arizona State University, studying with David Hickman, will be featured in his own arrangement of Russian composer Vassily Brandt’s Concert Piece No. 1. Foss will be backed by an eleven-member brass ensemble. Trinity’s organ, with brass ensemble accompaniment, will be featured in the majestic Grand Choer Dialogue, by French composer Andre Gigout. Guest organist Jane Lynch joins the brass for this inspiring piece.

The large-ensemble works will be conducted by Dr. Verena Mosenbichler-Bryant, Assistant Professor and Director of the Wind Symphony at Duke University and of the Wind Ensemble at the North Carolina School of the Arts. All of the participants will return to join together in the final number. . . a massed-ensemble gospel arrangement of the 18^th-century hymn Oh Happy Day, inviting audience participation as the concert draws to a close.

Trinity United Methodist Church is located at 215 N. Church Street in downtown Durham. Free parking is available on Sundays in a large lot directly across from the church. For information or directions call Trinity 9am-4pm Mon-Fri at 919-683-1386.