Distributed November 13, 2002
For Immediate Release

News Service Contact: Mary Jo Curtis



16th annual concert

Wind Symphony to perform Brudner Memorial Concert Nov. 22

The Brown University Wind Symphony, directed by Matthew McGarrell, will present the 16th annual Eric Adam Brudner ’84 Memorial Concert on Friday, Nov. 22, 2002, at 8 p.m. in Sayles Hall. The concert, which is free and open to the public, will feature the Brass Venture quintet and the music of guest composer Eric Ewazen of The Juilliard School.


PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The Department of Music will present the 16th annual Eric Adam Brudner ’84 Memorial Concert, featuring the Brown University Wind Symphony, the acclaimed Brass Venture quintet and the music of noted Juilliard School composer Eric Ewazen, on Friday, Nov. 22, 2002, at 8 p.m. in Sayles Hall on The College Green. The concert, one of the most popular annual music events at Brown, is free and open to the public.

The Brudner Concert, which traditionally features the Brown Jazz Band, is being performed for the first time this year by the Brown Wind Symphony. The highlight of the evening’s program will be a 40-minute composition for solo brass quintet and wind band by Ewazen, titled “Shadowcatcher.” The soloists for the piece will be Brass Venture, a quintet of brass players who live and perform in the Boston and Providence area.

“Shadowcatcher” was commissioned in 1996 by the American Brass Quintet. Ewazen drew his inspiration for the composition from the photographs of American Indians by Edward Curtis, who was known to his subjects as Shadowcatcher. Ewazen was captivated by the beauty and mystery of Curtis’ photographs, which were taken during his travels throughout the West in the early 1900s. Four of the photos – “Offering to the Sun,” “Among the Aspens,” “The Vanishing Race” and “Dancing to Restore an Eclipsed Moon” – each provided a theme for a movement of “Shadowcatcher.”

Eric Ewazen, born in 1954 in Cleveland, studied under Samuel Adler, Milton Babbitt, Warren Benson, Gunther Schuller and Joseph Schwantner at the Eastman School of Music (B.M., 1976), Tanglewood and The Juilliard School (M.M., l978; D.M.A., 1980), where he has been a member of the faculty since l980. A recipient of numerous composition awards and prizes, has written works that have been commissioned and performed by many chamber ensembles and orchestras in the United States and abroad. His music has been heard at festivals including Tanglewood, Aspen, Caramoor and the Music Academy of the West. Among his recorded works are “Symphony in Brass” (Summit Brass on Summit Records) and “Colchester Fantasy” (American Brass Quintet on Summit Records and Center City Brass Quintet on dNote Records), among many others.

Eric Adam Brudner ’84

Eric Adam Brudner graduated in 1984 after distinguishing himself as one of the University’s finest music students in recent memory. While still an undergraduate, he played jazz professionally in local clubs and taught piano to dozens of fellow students. He was awarded the Buxtehude and Arlan Coolidge Prizes in music in his junior and senior years, respectively.

“Eric was a talented pianist and composer. He was a favorite of faculty and students alike,” McGarrell said. “He brightened our classes and our lives with his effervescent good humor and quick wit, and he touched our hearts with his music. These annual concerts are dedicated to his memory in celebration of his talent and aspirations.”

Since the fourth Brudner Concert in 1991, the annual concert has featured noted guest artists, most recently George Masso, Dave Liebman, Carl Fontana and John Medeski.

For more information, call (401) 863-3234 or 863-7552.

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