Bay Brass "Birthdays and Anniversaries" Concert

Grammy-Nominated Bay Brass Announces Concert Honoring Bay Area Legend Dick AKRIGHT
On February 28, 2012 at 8 pm, the Bay Brass (http://baybrass.org) will present a concert at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. The concert will honor long-time Bay Area instrument repairman and craftsman Dick Akright, with proceeds used for scholarships to "The Dick Akright Scholarship Fund" for deserving young musicians to attend Hayward-La Honda Music Camp, a favorite cause of his. Additional donations towards "The Dick Akright Scholarship Fund" may be made at: http://www.lahondamusiccamp.org
The concert will feature a guest appearance and world premiere of a new composition by noted Bay Area trombonist/composer Wayne Wallace as well as works by Glass, Gabrieli, Delius, Debussy and others.
Dick Akright has provided essential support to the Bay Area and national brass player community for over 42 years at the thriving Best Instrument Repair Company in Oakland. Dick has been the foremost primary-care brass instrument physician when repairs are needed, often on an urgent basis, helping his musical patients to achieve high-level performances whether in local schools, major symphony orchestras or jazz and rock bands. His basement shop, with its subterranean charm, soldering torches ablaze and instruments stacked high, has been the nexus of Bay Area brass life for generations and Dick has been a paragon of warmth and understanding to all who enter. His generosity is legendary, and The Bay Brass joins the wider community in our best wishes to Dick on his health challenges ahead.
The Bay Brass
The Bay Brass was founded in 1995, and is comprised of brass players from the San Francisco Bay Area's leading performing organizations, including the San Francisco Symphony, the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra and the San Francisco Opera Orchestra.
As a true cooperative, The Bay Brass has no principal players and no music director. Rather, its musicians share in all of the organizational and musical responsibilities of the ensemble. In addition, members also conduct, arrange, and compose, allowing for expanded creative opportunities for each musician.
The Bay Brass prides itself on the diversity of its programming, combining the traditional brass repertory with jazz and other contemporary styles and featuring a mix of large-scale symphonic brass ensemble works and compositions for smaller combinations of players. Since its inception, a priority of the ensemble has been the commissioning of new works in an ongoing effort to expand and enhance the repertoire for brass ensemble. Premieres by The Bay Brass have included pieces by the California Composers' Consortium, Bruce Broughton, Morten Lauridsen, Kevin Puts, Scott Hiltzik, Wayne Wallace and Michael Tilson Thomas.
Past guest conductors of the ensemble have included Michael Tilson Thomas, Donald Runnicles, Michael Morgan, Alasdair Neale, Edwin Outwater, A. David Krehbiel, Charles Floyd, Harvey Felder, Bruce Broughton and Stuart Chafetz.
The Bay Brass has performed many concerts in and around the San Francisco Bay Area, including appearances at Grace Cathedral, Davies Symphony Hall, Sacramento State University, Stanford University, and the University of California, Berkeley. The Bay Brass was one of the featured performing groups at the 1996 International BrassFest held in Long Beach, Ca and was also featured at the 25th Festival of New American Music in Sacramento. The ensemble has been presented on radio broadcasts throughout the Bay Area and, since 2003, has been the Ensemble-In-Residence at the Menlo Summer Brass Institute and Festival.
In October 2000, The Bay Brass released its first CD, A Brass \& Organ Christmas on Gothic Records, recorded in Grace Cathedral with organist John Fenstermaker. "If you're looking for festive Christmas music by brass and organ," noted The American Record Guide, "you won't find a better recording than this one. The arrangements are lovely and unusual, the performances loving.... The Bay Brass is a truly wonderful brass ensemble with a full-bodied sound and no rough edges."
Their newest CD, "Sound The Bells!", featuring premiere recordings of recent American works for brass, was released on the harmonia-mundi label and has been nominated for a 2012 Grammy award for "Best Small Ensemble Performance". Gramophone magazine states "this Harmonia Mundi Sacd release is a brilliant showcase for the thrilling beauty of tonal brass music in the new century, and the splendid virtuosity of the Bay Brass."