Oakland University Brass Band conducted by Dr Kenneth Kroesche won the Dublin Festival of Brass title held at the Jerome Performing Arts Centre in Dublin, Ohio.
Adjudicators Steven Mead and Dr William Ballenger (using Steve's Criteria based system) placed the band first in all three disciplines of the event, claiming the individual awards for 'Best March', 'Best Slow Melody' and 'Best Major Work' along the way.
Essence on victory
The band opened with the classic march 'O.R.B.' by Charles Anderson before playing Howard Snell's arrangement of Bach's famous 'Arioso'. They closed their set with Peter Graham's 'The Essence of Time'.
Steve told 4BR that he was very impressed by the standard of playing on show, and especially with the winners who he said "nailed it".
"It was an excellent event, and the playing was very good,"he said. "The winner was outstanding and really nailed it.
It was wonderful to hear such an authentic 'English' sound to the ensemble — rich, textured and homogeneous and the performance of 'Essence of Time' in particular was a joy."
Major works
Other major works performed during the event included 'Spirit of Puccini', 'Connotations', 'Fire in the Blood', 'Frontier Visions', 'Purcell Variations', 'Blackout' and 'Resurgam'
Prior to the results Steve performed a short solo recital playing 'Varied Mood', 'Esterllita' and 'Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms'.
It was wonderful to hear such an authentic 'English' sound to the ensemble — rich, textured and homogeneous and the performance of 'Essence of Time' in particular was a joySteven Mead
Result:
Adjudicators: Steven Mead & Dr William Ballenger
March/Slow Melody/Major Work = Total
1. Oakland University Brass Band (Kenneth Kroesche): 25/25/50 = 100
2. Arkansas Musicworks (Tim Hendrix): 24/23/46 = 93
3. Dublin Silver (Tim Jameson): 19/ 22/48 = 89
4. Eastern Iowa Brass Band (Alex Beamer): 22/24/40 = 86*
5. Cincinnati Brass Band (Jon Noworyta): 23/19/44 = 86
6. Chesapeake Silver Cornet (Dr Russell E Murray Jnr): 21/19/42 = 82
7. Prairie Brass Band (Mary Barnes-Gingrich): 20/21/36 = 77
8. Fillmore Philharmonic Brass (Dt Stephen Lytle): 18/20/38 = 76
9. Crossroads Brass Band (Paul Bork): 17/17/34 = 68
*tiebreaker
Best March: Oakland University Brass Band
Best Slow Melody: Oakland University Brass Band
Best Major Work: Oakland University Brass Band
Best B Section Band: Cincinnati Brass Band
Runner-Up: Chesapeake
Individual Awards:
Best Soprano: Doug Lindset (Arkansas Musicworks)
Best Cornet: Scott Bricker (Oakland University Brass Band)
Best Flugel: Jimmy Shepherd (Fillmore Philharmonic Brass)
Best Horn: Nicole Tremonti (Oakland University Brass Band)
Best Baritone: John Anderson (Oakland University Brass Band)
Best Trombone: David Anderson (Eastern Iowa Brass Band)
Best Euphonium: Cody Hutchison (Arkansas Musicworks)
Best Basses: Dublin Silver
Best Percussion: Dublin Silver
