Athens Brass Choir: History
The Athens Brass Choir was founded in the summer of 2002. Initially created to keep the members of the brass section of the Athens Symphony in shape during the offseason, it has since grown to include a larger number (and variety) of players, including students from the University and local secondary (and home) schools.
While the main focus of the group is still its summer schedule, the Athens Brass Choir has expanded its season in recent years to include occasional Spring and Fall concerts (as well as some special occasion performances and benefit concerts). Recent programs include all-American, all-British, and all-Russian concerts, as well as a "Christmas In July" concert and last year's "Music From The Movies" program. In June 2007, we performed (for the first time) a joint program with the Athens Master Chorale.
Concerts the Athens Brass Choir have performed include:
- 2003:
- "Brass Cans": Music of Strauss, Lotti, Wukovitz, Palestrina, Morley, Jones, Praetorius, Pachelbel, Stanford, Tschesnokoff, and Haufrecht.
- 2004:
- "Live at the Library": Pops program
- "Russian Music": Music of Tschesnokoff, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Ewald, and Gliere.
- 2005:
- American Music Festival (Athens, GA): Music of Ward, Copland, Walker, Sousa, Lauridsen, and Bagley.
- Winterville "Public Safety Day" Festival: Patriotic program
- "Christmas In July": Music of Bach, Walther, Sweelinck, Praetorius, Benke, Anderson, Lauridsen, and other traditional Christmas songs.
- "Back-To-School Brass": Music of Strauss, Gasparini, Copland, Mahler, Haufrecht, Walther, Bruckner, Tallis, and Holst.
- 2006:
- British program: Music of Morley, Tallis, Handel, Pearsall, Holst, Vaughan Williams, Marcangelo, and Grainger.
- Opera program: Music of Rimsky-Korsakov, Verdi, Bizet, Saint-Saens, Wagner, Puccini, Prokofiev, and Gershwin.
- St. Cecilia concert: Music of Copland, Taylor, White, Walker, Billings, Gottschalk, Parker, Chadwick, and Bernstein.
- 2007:
- Music for Voices and Brass (joint program with the Athens Master Chorale): Music of Hoggard, Gabrieli, Billings, Wagner, Kodaly, Arnold, Vaughan Williams, and Sousa.
- Music from the Movies: Music of Williams, Rachmaninoff, Marcangelo, Norman, Berry, Mancini, Carmichael, and Goldsmith.
Pictures from the "Music From The Movies" concert are available here (with thanks to Connie Cottingham) - St. Cecilia concert: Music of Copland and Bozza.
- 2008:
- Sacred Brass: Music of Gabrieli, Lotti, Handel, Tallis, Tschesnokoff, Praetorius, Billings, Southern Harmony, Holst, and Lauridsen.
- French Brass: Music of Dukas, Mouret, Bizet, Delibes, Debussy, Ravel, and Bozza.
- The Fifth Anniversary Concert: Music of Strauss, Williams, Haughey, Marcangelo, Norman, Berry, Ward, Bagley, and Bernstein.
- Modern Brass: A concert of works composed specifically for brass in the last hundred years, including at least one written for the Athens Brass Choir.
- 2009:
- Russian Masterworks: Tchaikovksy's Marche Slave and the complete Mussorgsky Pictures At An Exhibition
- All-American Brass: A selection of classical and popular American music.
- 2010:
- A Summer Concert with The Athens Brass Choir and The Athens Master Chorale: A joint program with works by Walton, Brahms, Grainger, Sousa, Mahler, and Dello Joio.
- Classi Brass: Music of Sousa, Guilmant, Strauss (Sr.), Bellstedt, Grainger, Holst, Mahler, and Bagley.