This past Monday, TNB travelled to wild, wonderful West Virginia. West Liberty University is nestled in the picturesque green hills of the state’s Northern Panhandle, about an hour southwest of Pittsburgh. With guest trumpeter Brendan Cassin, we performed a recital featuring music from all of our CDs — well, except the Christmas CD, it’s a little early for that!

We had a great time meeting the faculty and students in the music school at WLU, and really enjoyed our brief stay in West Virginia. Of course, when we travel, we always make a point of seeking out the best traditional local cuisine, which of course led us to coffee and doughnuts at that venerable West Virginia institution, Tim Hortons… (click on the photo for a closer look.)

If you want to see some rather more scenic photos of TNB on the road, check out Al’s photo site, alkayphotos.com. There you can view Al’s fabulous photos from his various travels, including his motorcycle trip through Labrador and TNB’s residency at Music by the Sea.

Last week, True North Brass gave 12 performances in and around Parry Sound as part of the “Music Scores” program which is run by the Festival of the Sound and co-sponsored by the Music Performance Fund. For three days, we travelled from school to school, introducing ourselves and our instruments to the students. We performed not only in Parry Sound, but also Britt, Nobel, Wasauksing, Humphrey, Mactier, McDougall and Dunchurch. Fortunately, we didn’t have to find our own way around. Cam Murch and Jim Ferris served as our guides, and without them we almost certainly would have gotten lost and been devoured by bears. (We would have been an especially tasty treat, given our daily doses of butter tarts from Richard’s Coffee in Parry Sound, and the fabulous breakfasts at the Bayside Inn.)

On the fourth day, the students all came to the Charles Stockey Centre in Parry Sound, where we performed for them again. We really enjoyed the entire trip — I’ve played for many supposedly adult audiences that weren’t as quiet and attentive, which is especially remarkable the day before Hallowe’en! Obviously, the small communities outside Parry Sound don’t host a lot of concerts, so it’s great to be able to bring live music to kids who don’t often get that opportunity. It’s fantastic that the Festival of the Sound brings this program to them, and it was a real joy and privilege to be part of it.

Ceremonial Fanfare by Scott Irvine

In preparation for our performances, the students at St. Peter’s School in Parry Sound and Nobel Public School listened to some of our recordings and created some cool artwork inspired by what they heard. Follow the links below for two more videos!

“Downbound from Thunder Bay” from Ontario Pictures by Howard Cable

“Point Pelee” from Ontario Pictures by Howard Cable

This weekend, True North Brass will be performing in three concerts as part of the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival. On Saturday, we’re joined by Eric Robertson for a program featuring the world première of Scott’s transcription of Mussorgksy’s Pictures at an Exhibition. On Sunday afternoon, you can hear us in a free concert on the grounds of Rideau Hall, the official residence of Canada’s Governor General. For this performance, we’ll be playing alongside Ottawa’s Rideau Lakes Brass Quintet. And on Monday, we once again join the Rideau Lakes Brass Quintet and five more brass players for a performance of R. Murray Schafer’s Isfahan.

For more details about tickets and venues, please click on these links:

Saturday: TNB with Eric Robertson

Sunday: TNB with Rideau Lakes Brass Quintet

Monday: R. Murray Schafer’s Isfahan

For lots more about the musicians, the music, and the programs, click here or follow the link below!

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It may be true that there’s no such thing as a free lunch, but in the summer there is very often an abundance of free concerts. Over the next couple of weeks, TNB is performing in two such concerts, so this is your chance to hear some great music absolutely free.

This Friday, July 25th, we’ll be performing as part of What is Classical? This event, which takes place at Toronto’s Harbourfront, includes three days of concerts exploring the idea of “classical” music from a range of cultural perspectives. We’ll be playing from 7:30 to 8:00 on the Toronto Star Stage. (If, like me, you’re not exactly sure where that is, click here for a map.)

Al’s enjoying a well-deserved break this week, so for this performance we have a special guest, Curtis Metcalf. Curtis is one of the world’s finest euphonium players, and is Artistic Director of the Hannaford Street Silver Band. He’ll be featured in the virtuosic theme and variations, Grandfather’s Clock.

We’ll also be performing a selection of pieces focussed on folk music and music from Canada, including Morley Calvert’s Canadian Folk Song Suite, Calixa Lavalée’s La rose nuptiale, and two fanfares by our own Scott Irvine.

If you’re nearer to our nation’s capital, you’ll have three chances to hear us this August, and one of those is also a free concert. On August 3rd, we’ll be playing on the grounds of Rideau Hall along with our good friends, the Rideau Lakes Brass Quintet. Watch this blog for more information on all of our performances at the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival; in the meantime, you can get more information on all of our performances on the Events page.

This past Sunday, True North Brass performed at the historic Sharon Temple. This is truly a unique structure! It was built by a religious sect called the “Children of Peace,” who were former Quakers. The architecture represents many of the tenets of their faith; for instance, the building has three stories to represent the Trinity. You can read more about the Children of the Peace and the Sharon Temple here. 

Because of the remarkable acoustics of the Temple, Stephen Cera, who is Artistic Director of Music at Sharon, requested that we include some antiphonal music in our program. So, for this performance, we invited Rob Weymouth & James Langridge (trumpets), Julian Alexandrov (horn), our webmaster Nick Mahon (trombone), and Courtney Lambert (tuba) to join us in a few selections, including Samuel Scheidt’s Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ and a double quintet version of Scott’s Ceremonial Fanfare. TNB also performed selections from John Beckwith’s Tunes of the Sharon Band, which is a suite of music which was played by the first civilian band in Canada.

Inside the building, one of the most striking features is “Jacob’s Ladder,” which leads to a gallery on the second story. To begin the second half of the program, Ray, Rob and I climbed the ladder and played the fanfare from Swan Lake to call the audience back in. I’m pretty good with heights — I once acquired the nickname “Monkey Boy” — but it was a little disconcerting to realize that as soon as we climbed down one of the ushers roped off the ladder and hung a sign warning people to stay off! But we made it in one piece, and for the first time in my career I received applause for climbing a ladder.

All in all, it was a wonderful event — a great venue, an appreciative audience, and none of the trumpet players fell to their deaths! The shot above shows Ray making his descent. (Click the photo to enlarge.)