Subscribe Now

Community Concerts

Plans for 2012-2013 Season

Some dates and venues may change

Performances to be held in Richland High or Faith Assembly Auditoriums

Date

Time

A Far Cry

Faith Assembly Auditorium

 

One of Boston's most promising classical music groups, This Chamber Orchestra performs with  the freedom and flexibility of a string quartet and the power and beauty of an orchestra.  The group transcends the traditional boundaries of classical music, experimenting how its prepared, performed and experienced.  Extraordinary music is made according the musicians own rules.    More      Press

 

Monday

 October 1, 2012
7:30 pm

TAP - The

 Show

Richland High School Auditorium

 

TAP - The Show is fueled by  anon-stop explosion of rhythmic energy.  rapped in dazzling costumes and backed by a soaring orchestral score, this cast of eight award-winning dancers and two singers travels seamlessly over decades of styles from Broadway and big band to world music and pop/rock.  Sing along and tap into the best as tap your feet.            More      Press

 

Saturday

October 26, 2012
7:30 pm

Red Priest

 

Faith Assembly Auditorium

This instrumental quartet plays recorder, violin, cello, and harpsichord; in a flamboyant, theatrical and virtuosic style using props, costumes, dramatic lighting and other effects. The pieces they perform are generally their own arrangements, though based very closely on the original music by Vivaldi, Bach, et al.                                                            More      Press

Monday
March 4, 2013
7:30 pm

Sonos Handbell 

Ensemble

Faith Assembly Auditorium

 

Since its founding, Sonos has moved handbells into the musical mainstream by using the best transcriptions and original material available today.  They encourage composers to write for bells alone and in combination with other instruments and voices and premier these solo and orchestral works.  They mesmerize audiences at major world events and their touring and radio and TV appearances have helped introduce handbell virtuosity to millions of people around the world.       .More      Press

Saturday

April 13, 2013

7:30 pm
 

 

Presidio Brass

 

Faith Assembly Auditorium

Since their founding in 2006, this group has rocketed to success as the face of a bold new generation in brass entertainment.  By combining a brass quintet, piano and percussive instruments with fresh original arrangements, their unique sound has become a trade mark for the ensemble from San Diego.  These five young men present music with a good dose of wit and humor that together have become hallmarks of every performance.                                          More       Press

 

Wednesday
May 8, 2013
7:30 pm

 

Season Subscription Information

Becoming a 2013-2014 Subscriber

Concert Locations

Board Members

  Return to Home Page

TOP

 

 

 

Concert Locations

Community Concert locations are:

Faith Assembly Auditorium 1800 Road  72 (Near Court Street), Pasco, WA 

(Take Court Street to Road 72)

 A Far Cry, Red Priest, Sonos Ensemble, and Presidio Brass

Richland High School  Auditorium -  930 Long, Richland, WA 

Taps - The Show

 

 

TOP

TAP - The Show

Most people tap their feet when they hear music, but some people make music by tapping their feet. TAP – The Show is a powerhouse production, celebrating the artistry of tap dance from around the globe.

Winner of the 2010 Heartbeat Award, the top IAAPA accolade, TAP – The Show is fueled by a non-stop explosion of rhythmic energy. Wrapped in dazzling costumes and backed by a soaring orchestral score, this cast of eight award-winning dancers and two singers travels seamlessly over decades of styles from Broadway and big band to world music and pop/rock.

Each section brings to life iconic tap moments of the past and creates brand new moments that amaze audiences. Included in this extravaganza are recreations of some of your favorite Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly numbers, Broadway showstoppers, smooth and sultry soft shoe, flamenco, tribal Irish Step and more.

Sing along and tap into the beat as you tap your feet with TAP – The Show!

 

 

TOP

What the press is saying about

TAP - The Show  

 

 

 

 

 

  

TOP

 

 

 

Sonos Handbell Ensemble  

Consider a single instrument that takes many people to play. The individual notes in the handbell instrument each require a musician's hand upon it, to place its tone in exact relationship with the other notes in the score, all in the shared context of rhythm, tempo, dynamics, articulation, and the overall musical line. This extremely complex process becomes second nature to the virtuoso handbell musician, who, like a pianist, must be aware of the character of the entire work, while controlling only a few of the tones in the instrument.

This instrument consists of a variable number of cast bronze bells fitted to flexible handles and equipped with clapper mechanisms that move in a single plane, striking the casting at only two places (forward and back). The tone of the bells can be varied by the tuning of the overtones at the time of manufacture, or by changing the density of the clappers at the strike points during performance. Similar tuned instruments with clappers can be made from other materials, such as handchimes made from aluminum, which produce different but compatible timbres. The differing sounds of the various makes of bells and chimes give the artistic director a symphonic palette of timbres to use separately and in conjunction to achieve his or her creative vision for the works under direction.

A set of handbells can range from a single octave (12 or 13 bells, depending on the accidentals) up to seven octaves, though most ensembles perform on five octaves, or 61 bells. Skilled handbell musicians can play as many as six bells at one time or in quick succession. Sonos performs on four and a half octaves of Malmarks, an octave of bass Schulmerichs, five octaves of Malmark handchimes, and five octaves of English-made Whitechapel handbells, as well as a variety of other percussion instruments.

The fascination in watching a superb handbell ensemble perform lies for many people in the completely intuitive relationship the dozen or so musicians must achieve with each other. A pianist or flutist, for example, has one brain controlling two hands and delivers a musical whole in his or her unique style. Imagine if the flutist joined a flute choir that divided up the grand staff, wherein each flutist was assigned sole responsibility for three or four of the notes, and was instructed to play only these notes where they occurred in the score and no others--and in addition, the flutists must all join their notes seamlessly, so that the result is musically pleasing! When many brains control many hands, the results can be less than pleasing if the ensemble is not trained to work together as one.

Sonosian musicians, having achieved their musical expertise on a variety of other instruments, are attracted to the complexity and dance-like challenge of performing on handbells. This instrument requires great personal discipline, a high level of cooperation, extremely good rhythm, and a willingness to become a component of a musical whole in which the communion of all parts is essential to the success of the ensemble. Audiences around the world are awed by the intimacy of this amazing musical relationship.

 

 

 




TOP

What the press is saying about

 

Sonos Handbell Ensemble


"We really don't expect that level of concentration and achievement 

out of anything, much less a handbell choir!"
Music Director, Oakland East Bay Symphony

 

"Thanks, Sonos, for raising the level of our little family radio show from

the comic to the cosmic to the something beyond."

-- Garrison Keillor, Host

A Prairie Home Companion

 

"Olympians of handbell ringers."

-- Joyce Johnson Hamilton
Music Director, Diablo Symphony

 

 "Widely considered the best handbell group in the US."

- Sarah Cahill

East Bay Express

TOP

 

Red Priest

Red Priest is the only early music group in the world to have been compared in the press to the Rolling Stones, Jackson Pollock, the Marx Brothers, Spike Jones and the Cirque du Soleil. This extraordinary acoustic foursome has been described by music critics as ‘visionary and heretical’, ‘outrageous yet compulsive’, ‘wholly irreverent and highly enlightened’, ‘completely wild and deeply imaginative’, with a ‘red-hot wicked sense of humour’ and a ‘break-all-rules, rock-chamber concert approach to early music’.

Founded in 1997, and named after the flame-haired priest, Antonio Vivaldi, Red Priest has given several hundred sell-out concerts in many of the world’s most prestigious festivals, including the Hong Kong Arts Festival, Moscow December Nights Festival, Schwetzingen Festival, Prague Spring Festival, Ravinia Festival, Bermuda Festival, and in most European countries, Japan, Australia, and throughout North and Central America. The group has been the subject of hour-long TV profiles for NHK (Japan) and ITV (UK) - the latter for the prestigious South Bank Show in 2005, which documented the launch of the Red Hot Baroque Show, an electrifying marriage of old music with the latest light and video technology.

In its regular line-up Red Priest comprises recorder player Piers Adams, violinist Julia Bishop, cellist Angela East and harpsichordist David Wright. In America and the Far East the group collaborates with the Canadian baroque/Cape-Breton violinist David Greenberg in place of Julia Bishop. These musicians have redefined the art of period performance, creating a virtual orchestra through their creative arrangements, performing from memory with swashbuckling virtuosity, heart-on-sleeve emotion and compelling stagecraft. Their repertoire ranges from obscure 17th century sonatas to the most famous works of Bach and Vivaldi, all presented in imaginative programmes with filmic titles: ‘Priest on the Run’, ‘Nightmare in Venice’, ‘Pirates of the Baroque’, ‘Johann, I'm Only Dancing’.

In 2008 Red Priest launched its own record label, Red Priest Recordings, which is now the home for all of the recordings of the ensemble and its members, and has attracted much attention in the music press worldwide. The label is distributed worldwide by Nimbus.

Members

Piers Adams was recently heralded in the Washington Post as ‘the reigning recorder virtuoso in the world today’. He has performed in numerous festivals and at premiere concert halls throughout the world, including London’s Royal Festival, Wigmore and QueenElizabethHalls, and as concerto soloist with the Philharmonia, the English Sinfonia, the Irish Chamber Orchestra, the Academy of Ancient Music, the Singapore Symphony and the BBC Symphony. In addition to his work with Red Priest Piers has made several solo CDs reflecting an eclectic taste, ranging from his award-winning Vivaldi début disc to David Bedford’s Recorder Concerto - one of many major works written for and premiered by him. He has also researched, arranged and recorded many classical, romantic, impressionist and folk-influenced showpieces, which are a mainstay of his recital programmes. For further information please visit www.piersadams.com

Julia Bishop is one of the outstanding baroque violin specialists of her generation, with a virtuoso style described in the BBC Music Magazine as ‘psychedelic’. She has toured the world with most of the UK's leading period instrument orchestras, including the English Concert, of which she was a member for six years. Julia has worked extensively as an orchestral leader and soloist, in particular with the celebrated Gabrieli Consort, with whom she has performed internationally and appeared on numerous discs for Deutsche Grammophon. She has also appeared as concerto soloist with Florilegium, the Brandenburg Consort and the Hanover Band.

Angela East is widely respected as one of the most brilliant and dynamic performers in the period instrument world, praised in The Times, London, for the ‘elemental power’ of her cello playing. She has given numerous concerto performances in London's Queen Elizabeth and Wigmore Halls, and has performed as soloist and continuo cellist with many of Europe's leading baroque orchestras. Among her impressive list of concert credits are La Scala, Milan, Sydney Opera House, Versailles and Glyndebourne. In 1991 Angela formed ‘The Revolutionary Drawing Room’ which performs chamber works from the revolutionary period in Europe on original instruments, and whose first eight CDs have received glowing reviews world-wide. Her long awaited disc of Bach’s Cello Suites has recently been released on Red Priest Recordings. Her CD of popular baroque cello works, ‘Baroque Cello Illuminations’, has received excellent reviews and was chosen as ‘CD of the Fortnight’ in Classical Music Magazine.

David Wright has established himself as a prominent figure in the early music world. He was an almost entirely self taught musician before gaining a scholarship to the Royal College of Music, where he won several prizes, including the International Broadwood Competition, and graduated with distinction. He has worked with some of the world’s leading musicians including Emma Kirkby and James Bowman and performed as a soloist with many groups of international renown. He has directed numerous concerts from the harpsichord, including the first modern performance of Arne's The Blind Beggar of Bethnel Green, and is guest conductor to several orchestras on the continent. Much of David's time in recent years has been devoted to performing the Goldberg Variations, which he recorded in 2007 and has since toured extensively. With many television and radio broadcasts to his credit, David continues to pursue a busy and varied career as a harpsichordist and became a permanent member of Red Priest in January 2011.

David Greenberg - Red Priest's regular US guest violinist - taught himself folk fiddle tunes by ear as a young child growing up in Maryland. In the mid 80s he studied baroque violin with Stanley Ritchie. Greenberg spent the 1990s with Tafelmusik while developing a speciality in Scottish baroque-folk music, recording three groundbreaking CDs in this genre with the group Puirt A Baroque. He immersed himself in Cape Breton traditional music and co-authored the popular treatise on Cape Breton fiddle music, the DunGreen Collection, with his wife, Kate Dunlay. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In addition to Red Priest, regular collaborators include his own Tempest ensemble, David McGuinness, Chris Norman and Doug MacPhee.

  

 

Red Priest is the only early music group in the world to have been compared in the press to the Rolling Stones, Jackson Pollock, the Marx Brothers, Spike Jones and the Cirque du Soleil. This extraordinary acoustic foursome has been described by music critics as ‘visionary and heretical’, ‘outrageous yet compulsive’, ‘wholly irreverent and highly enlightened’, ‘completely wild and deeply imaginative’, with a ‘red-hot wicked sense of humour’ and a ‘break-all-rules, rock-chamber concert approach to early music’.

 

Hailing from “America’s Finest City”, San Diego, CA, Presidio Brass is a dynamic force in American brass chamber music. With a unique and exciting repertoire written specifically for the ensemble, Presidio Brass is committed to providing engaging musical programs as well as developing close ties to their audiences. They have concertized nationally, presenting concerts and educational outreach programs throughout the United States. Presidio Brass has performed in over 30 states and was on the touring roster for Nashville-based Live on Stage for the 2007-2008 season and asked back by popular demand for the 2009-2010 season after being noted as the finest brass group to have ever been associated with the organization.

The ensemble first came together with the primary mission to promote music education and appreciation in the next generation. That commitment continues to be exhibited each time Presidio Brass goes out on tour; every performance is coupled with a master class or school program for which the members of the quintet volunteer their time. Their educational programs have garnered the attention of newspapers throughout the country. In 2008, members of Presidio Brass furthered their educational goals when they formed a 501c3 non-profit music charity called Musicate the Mind. Through Musicate the Mind, funding is made available to promote educational programs, outreach performances and commissioning of new music.

In addition to performing as a brass quintet, Presidio Brass performs regularly as a part of Millennia Consort, California’s premiere brass, organ and percussion ensemble. Millennia Consort is active in commissioning new works as well as arrangements of popular classical music. The latest recording by the ensemble, Pictures of a New Beginning, includes commissions of new music by Craig Phillips, John Hirten and Jon Naples, and features a new arrangement of the orchestral favorite Pictures at an Exhibition by Presidio Brass’ tubist, Scott Sutherland.

To date, Presidio Brass has released three recordings: Stolen Moments, a collection of popular classical and jazz selections, Christmas Day, an assortment of well-known holiday favorites, and their newest recording of popular film music, Sounds of the Cinema.

Presidio Brass Members

Born and raised in Falls Church, VA, trumpeter Steve O’Connor joined the Presidio Brass in July of 2011. He enjoys an active freelance career in the Los Angeles area, including performances with the Los Angeles Opera, Pasadena Symphony, Pasadena Pops, the Ojai Festival Orchestra, the California and Riverside Philharmonics, as well as Santa Barbara, Redlands and San Bernardino Symphonies. Steve has also performed with the Moscow Symphony during a tour of the United States. As a chamber musician, he performs with Jacaranda, the Mládí Chamber Orchestra, Pacific Brass Ensemble, and at various chamber music venues throughout Los Angeles. In addition to performing, Steve serves as a trumpet instructor for the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at the California State University in Long Beach and at the Idyllwild Arts Academy. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in music from Michigan State University and a Master’s in Music from Cal State Long Beach. His teachers have included Tim Morrison, Jim Wilt, and Dave Washburn.

Originally from Monterey, CA, trumpet player Andrew Elstob joined the Presidio Brass in December of 2011. In addition to life on the road with Presidio Brass, he enjoys a career that encompasses a wide variety of musical styles and ensembles, from symphony orchestras to big bands, musicals to chamber music. Andrew has played for most of the current touring Broadway productions, including “Mary Poppins,” “Camelot,” “High School Musical,” and “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” and alongside such notable artists as Don Rickles, Wynonna Judd, John Lithgow, Patty LuPone and Lou Diamond Philips.  Additionally, he has performed with many of the top music ensembles in Southern California, including the San Diego Symphony, Orchestra Nova, and was a member of Westwind Brass. He has toured throughout North and South America, including a tour of Mexico with the Orchestra de Baja and internationally celebrated tenor, Luciano Pavarotti. Andrew grew up in the Bay Area near San Francisco, CA and moved to San Diego to attend the California State University, where he earned his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees with an emphasis in jazz studies. In his free time, Andrew enjoys being with his wife and two dogs while cheering on his San Francisco Giants and 49ers

Mike McCoy, a San Diego native, has been the horn player for the Presidio Brass since its inception. In addition to Presidio, he currently performs as the 4th Horn in the Las Vegas Philharmonic as well as subs in the horn sections of San Diego Symphony, San Diego Opera, and Pacific Symphony. Mike has played lead horn with the traveling Broadway shows Lion King, Wicked, and Tommy and is an active movie and commercial recording artist with notable credits including Mr. Jones (1993), Kate & Leopold (2002), and was lead horn on the Everquest game soundtrack. He has played with the Billings Symphony, Riverside Philharmonic, San Diego Chamber Orchestra, Nevada Symphony, Mexico City Philharmonic, Orchestra de Baja California, Strauss Symphony of America, toured the West Coast as a soloist with the New England Youth Ensemble, and played lead horn in Carnegie Hall under John Rutter. He is also affiliated with a Brass organ and percussion group called the Millennia Consort. Mike studied at the San Diego School for the Creative and Performing Arts, followed by San Diego State University and Boston Conservatory of Music.

Third generation trombonist, Sean Reusch, originally from Toms River, NJ, is a founding member of the Presidio Brass. Sean began performing trombone when he was ten years old. After receiving  a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology from Penn State University and a Master of Music Degree in Performance from the Manhattan School of Music, he moved to San Diego, CA.  Since then, Sean has performed with many groups including the San Diego Symphony, San Diego Opera, Orchestra Nova, Los Angeles Opera, Orquesta de Baja California, Pacific Symphony, Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, and the Barnum and Bailey Circus. Sean has performed with artists such as Dave Brubeck, Johnny Mathis, David Sanborn, Bernadette Peters, Eddie Daniels, Natalie Cole, and Marvin Hamlisch. As an educator, Sean is currently on faculty at UCSD, Palomar College, Mira Costa College, and at the Idyllwild Arts Academy during the summer. Sean maintains a large private teaching studio and many of his students have gone on to study music at universities including USC, UCLA, San Francisco Conservatory, Oberlin Conservatory, Cleveland Institute of Music, and Eastman School of Music to name a few. Sean resides in Carlsbad, California, with his wife and two children. 

A native of Los Angeles, Scott Sutherland is the tubist, pianist and primary music arranger for the Presidio Brass. He is also a member of the Redlands Symphony, the Riverside County Philharmonic and has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Diego Opera, San Diego Chamber Orchestra and the New West, Long Beach and San Diego Symphonies. From 2005-2007, he was principal tuba of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic. As a soloist, he has been featured with the San Diego Symphony, Riverside County Philharmonic, Burbank Philharmonic and the Idyllwild Arts Symphony Orchestra. Scott has played on motion picture and video game soundtracks, including the movie Pearl Harbor and has appeared with such artists as John Williams, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Jerry Goldsmith, Alf Clausen, Christian McBride and Louis Bellson. Scott is also active as a composer and arranger. His jazz ensemble composition, What Were You Thinkin’?, was recorded by the USC Elf Jazz Ensemble, directed by Shelly Berg, and his arrangement for solo trumpet and orchestra of music from George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess was commissioned by Barry Perkins and has been performed by the Pacific Symphony and the Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra in Mexico with Mr. Perkins as the soloist.  As an educator, Scott is on faculty at the University of Redlands, Palomar College and the Idyllwild Arts Summer Program. He was a brass pedagogy teaching assistant while attending UCLA and spent a year as a certificated school band/orchestra director for the Pasadena Unified School District. Scott earned his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Southern California (USC), a Master of Music degree from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), and has studied with Tommy Johnson, Jim Self, Norm Pearson and Doug Tornquist.  In his free time, Scott enjoys hanging out with his wife, Christine, and their two children, Aly and Jake, near their home in Carlsbad, CA.

 

"I heartily recommend the passionate performers of Presidio Brass for a stirring concert of great music, 

superbly played, and entirely entertaining from start to finish.” 

Brad Igou, Board President ,Lancaster Community Concert Association

 

“You guys sound awesome”  

James Wilt, Associate Principal Trumpet, Los Angeles Philharmonic

 

“The Presidio Brass needs to be heard to be believed. Each one of the members

is a virtuoso on his instrument and music flows out of them like a stream.”

John Lorge, Principal Horn, San Diego Symphony

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Far Cry stands at the forefront of an exciting new generation in classical music. According to the New York Times, the self-conducted orchestra “brims with personality or, better, personalities, many and varied.” A Far Cry was founded in 2007 by a tightly-knit collective of 17 young professional musicians – the Criers – and since the beginning has fostered those personalities, developing an innovative structure of rotating leadership both on stage and behind the scenes. By expanding the boundaries of orchestral repertoire and experimenting with the ways music is prepared, performed, and experienced, A Far Cry has been embraced throughout the world with more than two hundred performances, three albums, a powerful presence on the internet, and a European debut tour planned for 2012. The Criers are proud to call Boston home, and maintain strong roots in the city rehearsing at their storefront music center in Jamaica Plain and fulfilling the role of Chamber Orchestra in Residence at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Collaborating with local students through an educational partnership with the New England Conservatory, A Far Cry aims to pass on the spirit of collaboratively-empowered music to the next generation.