Five of the Kootenays’ finest musicians are reuniting for a concert in Crawford Bay. The Kootenay Brass Quintet — featuring trumpeters Laurel Ralston and Tim Bullen, hornist Arnie Satanove, trombonist Keith Todd and tubist Robin Clegg — will perform a fun, energetic, and diverse program of favourite classical, ragtime, jazz, show tunes and more on July 11.
The group formed in 2013 after several years playing together in the Symphony of the Kootenays, but the five musicians have performed in a wide range of settings — funk, rock, folk and jazz bands, musical theatre, orchestral and chamber music. Bullen, Satanove and Clegg continue to be based in Nelson, while Todd and Ralston will be returning from their new homes, in Whitehorse and Ottawa, respectively. The quintet is excited to get together again one year after their first concert tour.
“Our East Kootenay tour in 2013 was a huge success,” said Ralston. “We had a ton of fun, and great audiences everywhere we played. It’s such a treat to make music with friends as talented as these!”
The Kootenay Brass Quintet’s upcoming performance will showcase the group’s skill and artistry with great selections written especially for brass quintet — like renowned Canadian composer Howard Cable’s ever-popular A Newfoundland Sketch and 17th-century antiphonal pieces by Paul Peuerl — and excellent arrangements of hit Broadway tunes, folk songs, military band standards and even rock.
“One of the best things about brass instruments is their versatility,” said Clegg, the quintet’s arranger. “They can be loud and flashy or soft and lyrical, sound regal and dignified or raucous and jazzy. Brass instruments have been used for centuries all over the world in art music and folk music. We want to give our audience a taste of what these instruments can do.”
The Crawford Bay concert is at 7 p.m. July 11 at Harrison Memorial Church. Admission is by donation.
—KOOTENAY BRASS QUINTET