The Lawrence University Artist Series will continue with the Empire Brass Quintet. Joining the Empire Brass on stage will be Douglas Major, organist.
The concert takes place February 4 at 8 p.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel. Tickets are available at the Lawrence University Box Office, 920-832-6749 and range from $15 for students to $22 for adults.
The Empire Brass enjoys an international reputation as North America’s finest brass quintet, renowned for its brilliant virtuosity and the unparalleled diversity of its repertoire. The five musicians, all of whom have held leading positions with major American orchestras, perform more than 100 concerts a year in cities such as New York, Boston, Chicago, Washington, D.C., London, Zurich and Tokyo.
The Empire Brass has been featured on CBS’s “Good Morning America,” NBC’s “Today Show” and “Sunday Today” and PBS’s “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood.”
A series of best-selling compact discs on the Telarc label offers music that spans 500 years from a dozen different countries. The most recent of these are Romantic Brass, an anthology of Spanish and French music; Brass on Broadway; Class Brass – On the Edge, featuring works from Khachaturian, Prokofiev, Bernstein, and Copland; and Mozart For Brass, arrangements of Mozart works by Rolf Smedvig, one of the group’s trumpeters, with the collaboration of the electronic percussionist Kurt Wortman.
Organist Douglas Major has made solo appearances in major cities around the world and has performed with artists and ensembles ranging from Ravi Shankar, Aretha Franklin and Dave Brubeck to the National Symphony, the French National Orchestra, the Folger Consort, and the Marine Corps Band. Major plays many solo recitals and dedications of new organs in the United States as well. In May 2001, he participated in the first American Organists Festival in Kiev, Ukraine, playing recitals to standing-room-only audiences.
As a composer, Major’s works include anthems, canticles, and psalms for chorus; organ solo music; and music for synthesizers and choir, as well as piano and vocal compositions. His solo recordings include eight organ compact discs recorded on the Washington National Cathedral’s magnificent 185-rank Skinner organ. With the Empire Brass, Major has recorded “A Bach Festival” for Angel/EMI.
For additional information on this and other “Performing Arts at Lawrence” series concerts, please visit www.lawrence.edu/news/performingartsseries.
