Drawing their instruments, the Atlantic Brass Quintet began to play a lively tune. Mixing higher and lower tones, the musicians conveyed emotions and communicated with each other through facial expressions.
The Atlantic Brass Quintet, composed of five brass musicians from around the country, performed last Friday night at 7:30 p.m. in Cochran Chapel. The group played eight songs in
a variety of genres, with an intermission separating the concert into their classical pieces and their more contemporary songs. The ensemble includes two trumpets, a horn, a trombone, and a tuba. According to members of the group, the quintet is a tightly knit community.
Tim Albright, trombonist, said, “We’re pretty good friends. In fact, one of our former members is going to work with us this summer. We’ve worked with a former trombone player who left years ago every summer for the past ten years; he’s still essentially part of the group. We’ve become essentially a family, so we can interchange players if we need to.”
One of the contemporary pieces, ‘Voices in Da Fan’ was written by Andrew Sorg, a trumpeter.
The song follows a person who is struggling to sleep and begins hearing strange noises and witnessing strange visions from the white noise of their fan. The piece was comprised of four movements to represent the different stages of sleep.
Audience member Isabella Cote ’21 said, “I think the contemporary stuff was really cool because… it’s always interesting to see how an artist will translate his or her own work into how they’re performing.”
All of the artists stood up and addressed the audience after each song. They explained
some of their background and how they developed as a group. According to Seth Orgel, hornist, the group has been evolving since it formed in 1985 at Boston University. The musicians also talked a little about the piece they played and how they prepared for the concert.
Thomas Bergeron, trumpeter, said, “We recorded most of this music this past summer, so we spent so many hours with the music at that time. Since [then] we’ve been spending so many hours with it that when we finally get in the same room and play it, it comes together pretty easily. It’s inside of us.”
