Chestnut Brass Company

©2009 Paul Nixdorf

Bruce Barrie, trumpets
John Charles Thomas, trumpets
Marian Hesse, horn
Larry Zimmerman, trombone
Jay Krush, tuba

United States / Pennsylvania
Founded: 1977
Website

The Grammy winning Chestnut Brass Company has earned international acclaim for brilliant performances on modern and historical brass instruments. Since beginning as a street band in Philadelphia in 1977, they have performed in North and South America, Europe, the Caribbean, and Asia.

The chamber ensemble is active in the performance and commissioning of contemporary music, and has introduced numerous new works to audiences around the country. Composers who have written works for the Chestnut Brass Company, or have been commissioned by the Chestnut Brass Company, include Richard Wernick, Peter Schickele, Leslie Bassett, Eric Stokes, Theodore Antoniou, Jan Krzywicki, and Paul Basler. The brass quintet has received awards for commissioning and performance from the NEA, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Chamber Music America and Meet the Composer.

Interviews and recitals of the Chestnut Brass Company have been featured on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, Fresh Air, Radiotimes and Performance Today programs; Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, Bavarian State Radio, Korean National Television and numerous radio and television stations across the United States.The Chestnut Brass Company has been featured in performance at the Juilliard School, the Chautauqua Institute, the Ambassador Series, the Boston Museum of Art, Merkin Concert Hall, Alice Tully Hall and the Yale Collection of Instruments. The CBC Hot Air: the Story of Brass Instruments children’s program was selected by the Kennedy Center for broadcast as part of their educational series.

As curators of the sounds of ancient and antique brasses, the Chestnut Brass Company have been at the forefront of the period-instrument revival with performances on cornetti, sacbuts, keyed bugles and saxhorns. The quintet continues to collect antique brass instruments and to research the literature and performance practice of these instruments.

This extraordinary diversity of repertoire and instrumentation enables the Chestnut Brass Company to offer a variety of exciting, entertaining and innovative programs. They can be heard on the Sony, Newport Classic, Crystal and Musical Heritage/Musicmasters labels. Selections from CBC recordings have been featured on several documentaries ranging from A House Divided for PBS, to Pinehurst, the History of Golf.

RECORDINGS