Thursday, October 25, 3 and 7 p.m.
Butterworth Center, 1105 Eighth Street, Moline IL
Saturday, October 27, 7:30 p.m.
First Presbyterian Church, 1702 Iowa Street, Davenport IA
With Juilliard School chairman Raymond Mase calling them “an outstanding young group bringing fresh ideas to brass chamber music,” the five gifted musicians of the Gaudete Brass Quinet serve as the latest guests in Quad City Arts' Visiting Artist series, their October 25 and 27 concerts sure to demonstrate why Time Out Chicago praised the group's “individual player prowess convincingly consolidated into a pentagram of tonal color.”
“Gaudete” (pronounced gow-day-tay) is a form of the Latin word for “joy,” and the group's biography on its GaudeteBrass.com Web site states, “We support the idea that chamber music, even – and perhaps especially – the serious kind, can powerfully communicate both the poignant and the exuberant.” Since 2004, the Gaudete Brass Quintet has committed itself to presenting serious brass chamber music through concerts, recordings, and the commissions of new works. Among its credits, the ensemble has engaged in live performances at venues such as Merkin Hall and Symphony Space in New York City and Millennium Park in Chicago, commissioned new works from noted composers such as David Sampson, Jonathan Newman, John Cheetham, Steven Bryant, and Stacy Garrop, and appeared on radio broadcasts on WFMT in Chicago and Nashville Public Radio.
While maintaining a demanding performance schedule, the quintet – currently composed of Bill Baxtresser and Charles Roberts on trumpet, Joanna Schulz on horn, Scott Tegge on tuba, and Paul Von Hoff on trombone – has recorded three albums: 2006's Brass Outings, 2011's Conversations in Time with organist R. Benjamin Dobey, and 2012's Chicago Moves, produced by Grammy winner Judith Sherman. Gaudete Brass has also presented educational programs and concerts at prominent institutions including the Juilliard School, Eastman School of Music, and Arizona State University, and in the fall of 2013 the musicians joined Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts faculty as the institution's ensemble-in-residence.
On October 25, the Gaudete Brass Quinte will perform abbreviated versions of its public concert at Moline's Butterworth Center at 3 and 7 p.m., with October 27's full concert taking place at Davenport's First Presbyterian Church at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free to the Thursday events and $10-15 on Saturday, and more information on the group's area visit is available by calling (309)793-1213 or visiting QuadCityArts.com.
