Redlands Bowl 2001 Season
July 24th 
Programs start at 8:15 p.m. 

Boulder Brass. This enthusiastic and gifted twelve-member brass ensemble from Colorado has earned the reputation as the region's finest performers of diverse brass music. Co-sponsored by La-Z-Boy West.

Shining with the sounds of the turn-of-the-twentieth-century brass bands, Boulder Brass of Boulder, Colorado, will play at the Redlands Bowl at 8:15 p.m. for the Tuesday, July 24, event of the Redlands Bowl Summer
Music Festival.

"We have that same, warm feeling of brass bands of a century ago," explained tuba player and artistic director Michael Allen, "but the literature we perform is a lot more difficult."

Founded in 1993, the ensemble is committed to the performance, recording, arranging, and publishing of brass chamber music. All of the members perform with other orchestras, including the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, and, according to Allen, "We all lament not having a lot of notes to play when we perform with the orchestras. That's one reason we love this music: we get to play a lot more."

The program the eight-member Boulder Brass will perform at the Redlands Bowl will feature Americana literature, including a medley of Gershwin Broadway music and especially arranged piano preludes; a suite of
Porgy and Bess music, an arrangement commissioned by Boulder Brass from a Colorado composer; War Between the States, a medley of Civil War tunes arranged for brass ensembles; and a big Bach work, Passacaglia and Fugue in
C minor.

They will also perform a piece by Eric Ewazen, composer in residence at Juilliard, titled Grand Canyon Sinfonia. "This is very likable music," explained Allen, "and that's hard to find with contemporary music. We are the only group performing this work at this time." Allen explained that Boulder Brass performs in the turn-of-the-century Gazebo style. According to Allen, every village in Europe had its own band. Most of the members worked in the factories, so the factories produced brass band concerts in parks, playing a cornucopia of music including opera arias, transcriptions of orchestral works, and pieces composed to feature the best players, of which there were few. "This tradition, which began in England, took fire in the New England states in the United States during the Civil War," Allen said.

Boulder Brass has recently performed at the opening concert of the 1999 and 2000 Strings in the Mountains Festival in Steamboat Springs; the opening concert of the 1998 International Trombone Festival; Dave Brubeck's
Mass with the choirs of St. Johns' Cathedral; and a performance for President Gerald Ford and guests at the World Affairs Forum. Co-sponsor for this event is La-Z-Boy West of Redlands. Intermission speaker will be Jeffrey C. Apmadoc, Director, Elementary Bands, Redlands Unified School District, Elementary Music Enrichment Program. Intermission Ushers will be members from La-Z-Boy West and from the United Methodist Men.

The Children's Festival Workshop will be presented by Boulder Brass at 3:00 p.m. at the First Congregational Church, 2 W. Olive Avenue. Curtiss Allen Sr. will lead the audience in the Community Sing, beginning at 7:20 p.m.
Continuing the tradition begun in 1924, this and all Redlands Bowl Summer Music Festival events are open to the public at no charge, and a free-will offering will be collected at intermission. For more information about this concert, call the Redlands Bowl office at 909/793-7316 or visit the web site at www.redlandsweb.com.

To reach the Redlands Bowl between Eureka and Grant Streets in Redlands, enter the Redlands area on I-10; from the west, exit at Orange Street, turn right at the end of the ramp onto Eureka Street, proceed across Redlands Blvd. and Brookside Ave. to the Bowl area; from the east,
exit at Sixth Street, turn left at the end of the ramp onto Sixth Street, proceed to Pearl Ave. and turn right to Orange Street, turn left on Orange to Brookside Ave., turn right on Brookside to Eureka Street, and turn left on Eureka to the Bowl area. Parking is on streets in the area, or in the church and public parking lots.