Boston Brass to open pops series on Sept. 15

Internationally renowned brass quintet Boston Brass will bring its unique combination of jazz, bebop and classical music to the State University of New York at Fredonia on Friday, Sept. 15 at 8 p.m. in King Concert Hall.

This performance by Boston Brass will open the 2006-2007 Someplace Special Pops Series at Rockefeller Arts Center. The concert is sponsored by Lake Shore Savings Bank.   Tickets for Boston Brass can be purchased at the Central Ticket Office on the SUNY Fredonia campus or by calling 716-673-3501.

Music for the evening will include such selections as “Largo” from Dvorak’s “Symphony to the New World,” Franz Liszt’s “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2,” Dizzy Gillespie and Gil Fuller’s “Manteca” and Duke Ellington and Juan Tizol’s “Caravan,” among many others.

“We think out the flow of the show. It’s like a meal — we try to give the audience a little taste of everything,” Boston Brass Trumpeter Jeff Conner said. “And, of course, we play what we like. Every piece up there, we really enjoy playing.”

Boston Brass last performed at SUNY Fredonia in December 2004. Rockefeller Arts Center Director Jefferson Westwood was thrilled by the overwhelmingly positive response that the holiday pops concert incited from the audience.

“After the show, people were literally coming up to me and asking me when Boston Brass would be coming back,” Mr. Westwood said. “We are pleased to bring Boston Brass back to SUNY Fredonia and give our audience members the music they want to hear.”

The SUNY Fredonia audience will have the first opportunity to purchase the newly released Boston Brass All-Stars Big Band album “A Stan Kenton Christmas.” This project features holiday music popularized by the great bandleader and was recorded by Boston Brass in late 2005 with Conductor Sam Pilafian, a founding member of Empire Brass, and members of such popular brass ensembles as Epic Brass, Dallas Brass and Canadian Brass.

The next Someplace Special Pops Series concert will be “Christmas with Roger Williams,” a performance of holiday favorites with the legendary pop pianist, on Friday, Dec. 1 at 8 p.m. in King Concert Hall. The series will close with Commencement Eve Pops 2006: “Back to Broadway” on Friday, May 11.

To learn more about events at Rockefeller Arts Center, please visit the website.