Brass players set to surprise with breakaway NZSO tour

22 June 2011 - NZSO Media Release for immediate release
Brass players set to surprise with breakaway NZSO tour

Brass players of the NZSO are promising to blow apart everything you thought you knew about brass music, in a breakaway tour next month.

Brass Splendour strips away the full orchestra to bring an NZSO brass ensemble centre-stage. It features four horns, four trumpets, four trombones, a tuba and a percussion section and will tour Auckland , Wellington , New Plymouth and Nelson.

While brass is often seen as the muscle of the orchestra, NZSO Associate Principal Trumpet Cheryl Hollinger says the tour will prove that the section is in fact capable of an incredible musical range.

“The programme really showcases all that brass instruments can do. It doesn’t matter if you’re a jazz, rock, brass band or symphony lover – there’ll be something in this programme for everyone.

“There’s some huge sonorous brass playing, but you’re also going to get the more lyrical, soft, gentle playing that a lot of people don’t think of when it comes to brass.”

As well as the large-scale excitement of Gabrieli and the medieval pageantry of Elgar, the brass ensemble will also perform a funeral march by Grieg and Handel’s cork-popping Music for the Royal Fireworks.

NZSO Associate Principal Trombone Peter Maunder has arranged the Handel and Festmusik der Stadt Wien by Richard Strauss especially for Brass Splendour.

“The Strauss is my kind of music, and I’ve wanted to arrange it for a long time. It’s not often done, and so I’m very excited about performing it!”

Brass Splendour is proudly supported by National Bank Private Banking and Ryman Healthcare Ltd. It is the latest tour in the popular NZSO Soloists series, which singles out individual sections of the orchestra.

Attached imagery features NZSO Associate Principal Trumpet Cheryl Hollinger; NZSO brass players left to right David Bremner (trombone), Michael Kirgan (trumpet), Graeme Browne (bass trombone) and Mark Carter (trumpet). Photo credit: Russ Flatt

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NZSO Soloists: Brass Splendour

NZSO brass ensemble

ELGAR Severn Suite
GRIEG Funeral March in Memory of Rikard Nordraak
R STRAUSS Festmusik der Stadt Wien
GABRIELI Sacrae symphoniae: Canzon 10
HANDEL Music for the Royal Fireworks

Auckland / Holy Trinity Cathedral, Parnell / Tue 26 July / 7pm
New Plymouth / TSB Showplace / Wed 27 July / 7.30pm
Wellington / Town Hall / Thu 28 July / 6.30pm
Nelson / Theatre Royal / Sat 30 July / 7.30pm

ENDS

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