Milwaukee Festival Brass performs "Formidable Brass"

The Milwaukee Festival Brass will continue its 33rd Season with a concert celebrating the tradition of creating exceptional musical artistry realized by brass bands and their players through the years. The program, entitled “Formidable Brass,” will include classic brass band repertoire along with recent compositions and popular items.

“Brass bands were originally founded by factory workers and coal miners in the 19th century. Over time bands began competing with one another for bragging rights over which town, mill, or factory had the best band” said Dr. Mark A. Taylor, the Music Director of Milwaukee Festival Brass. “It was through this tradition of contesting that these otherwise untrained musicians were determined to achieve unbelievable feats of technique and musicianship in the process. This is a tradition that lives on in brass bands still today.”

The concert will delight listeners with everything from stirring marches to film scores. Highlights will include one of the only brass band compositions by the celebrated American composer Joseph Turrin, his “Overture for Brass.” Principal Solo Horn Lonna Brooks will be featured in Paul Lovatt-Cooper’s meltingly beautiful “An Untold Story.” Film buffs will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the motion picture “Superman” with the love theme from John Williams’s iconic score, “Can You Read My Mind?” Also featured on the concert will be two selections with which the band hopes to defend its Third Section Championship title when it travels to the 2018 North American Brass Band Association annual contest later this spring.

The Milwaukee Festival Brass will present “Formidable Brass” on Sunday, February 25, 2017 at 3:00 p.m. at the Father Robert Carney Performing Arts Center at Pius XI High School in Milwaukee. Doors open at 2:30; concert tickets are $12, or $9 for seniors and students. Group rates are available. For more information, please visit the band’s website at www.mfbrass.org.