ASU to Host Annual Brass Festival
February 17, 2010
The festival will also feature recitals and concerts, exhibits and a finale performance of all brass instruments. Participants are encouraged to bring their horns and participate in the festival to increase their musical skills.
Truax, a retired member of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and former member of the Philadelphia Orchestra, was a student of James Stamp and is one of the world’s foremost authorities on his teachings.
Stamp, also a professional trumpet player and music educator, developed his method focusing on exercise and warm-ups. Truax will give a master class at 10:15 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 27, about the Stamp method and will highlight proper performance fundamentals for brass players.
On Friday, Feb. 26, Truax will conduct a master class at 5 p.m. and an open rehearsal with the ASU Brass Choir is set for 7 p.m. Kicking off the festival at 9:30 a.m. on Feb. 27 will be a concert by the ASU Brass Choir under the direction of Dr. Edward Surface. Truax and Dr. John Irish, ASU associate professor of music, will join the Brass Choir in performing music by Aaron Copland and “Legacies of Honor,” an original composition Truax wrote for the United States Military Academy Band. There will also be a final concert at 2:15 p.m. and a massed brass performance at 3:30 p.m.
On Feb. 28, Truax will perform as a soloist in another of his works, “Fantasy for Trumpet,” with the ASU Wind Ensemble at 3 p.m. in the C.J. Davidson Conference Center inside the Houston Harte University Center, 1910 Rosemont Drive. An all-area honors trumpet ensemble will also be featured with the ASU Wind Ensemble on “Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral” from “Lohengrin,” by Richard Wagner.
A $10 registration fee is required for festival events on Saturday, Feb. 27, except for parents, guardians and teachers who may attend all events at no cost. All other events are open free to the public.