The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical Music: The Chicago Gargoyle Brass and Organ Ensemble will take Madison listeners on a FREE concert of ‘Imaginary Journeys’ TONIGHT at 7 p.m.
Leave a Comment
IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR SHARE IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event.
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement for a concert that sounds in keeping with the spirit of Halloween:
The Chicago Gargoyle Brass and Organ Ensemble (below, in a photo by Thomas Mohr) will lead listeners on aural adventures through space, time and fantasy at its “Imaginary Journeys” concert TONIGHT, Oct. 27.
The concert is FREE and open to the public, and will take place at 7 p.m. at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 5701 Raymond Road, in Madison.
For more information, call (608) 271-6633 or visit www.gslcwi.com or gargoylebrass.com.
The professional ensemble of brass quintet and pipe organ, with percussion, will perform the Madison premieres of new works and arrangements it recently commissioned for its novel array of instruments.
The concert’s namesake work, “Imaginary Journeys,” was written for the ensemble by Chicago-area composer Mark Lathan. It takes listeners on a rocket-powered interstellar adventure, inspired by recent astronomical discoveries.
“For this piece,” Lathan says, “I wanted to bring in some drama, somewhat in the manner of a film score.” Lathan earned a doctorate in music from the University of California at Los Angeles, where he received the Henry Mancini Award in Film Composition and studied film scoring with Jerry Goldsmith.
Another Madison premiere is Craig Garner’s brass-and-organ arrangement of Igor Stravinsky’s ever-popular Suite from “The Firebird,” a ballet based on Russian fairy tales. “The audience will hear an all-time favorite orchestral work like it’s never been heard before,” says Rodney Holmes, founder and artistic director of the Chicago Gargoyle Brass and Organ Ensemble.
Concertgoers will also hear the first local performances of “Short Fuse” for brass, organ and percussion by Chris Reyman (below), a jazz performance specialist teaching at the University of Texas at El Paso. Holmes says, “This piece shows off a very different face of what a pipe organ and brass can do.”
Other first hearings include Garner’s two-part instrumental suite from English Baroque composer Henry Purcell’s “Come Ye Sons of Art.”
The concert’s journey into the Baroque era includes brass and organ arrangements of movements from Johann Sebastian Bach’s chorale cantata “Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott” (A Mighty Fortress Is Our God), BWV 80.
The concert’s imaginative works include “Earthscape” by David Marlatt (below, and heard in the YouTube video at the bottom) as well as pipe-organ versions of “Clair de lune” (Moonlight) by Claude Debussy and Louis Vierne.
Performers will include Madison-based organist Jared Stellmacher (below), an award-winning musician heard on the Chicago Gargoyle Brass and Organ Ensemble’s critically acclaimed 2015 debut CD “Flourishes, Tales and Symphonies.” He holds a master’s degree in music from Yale University.
Gargoyle ensemble players are trumpeters Lev Garbar and Andrew Hunter, horn player Amy Krueger, trombonist Ian Fitzwater, tuba player Jason Lyons, and percussionist Logan Fox. Conductor will be Jakob Noestvik.
About the Chicago Gargoyle Brass and Organ Ensemble
“The Chicago Gargoyle Brass and Organ Ensemble plays with warmth, elegance, and panache,” said U.S. music magazine Fanfare in a review of the ensemble’s debut CD. “[They] are perfect companions for the music lover in need of calming nourishment.”
The group takes its whimsical name from the stone figures atop gothic buildings at the University of the Chicago, where the now-professional ensemble got its start in 1992 as a brass quintet of faculty and students.
Under its founder and artistic director Rodney Holmes, it has evolved over the decades into an independent organization of classically trained musicians that focuses on commissioning and performing groundbreaking new works and arrangements for brass and pipe organ. More information can be found at gargoylebrass.com.
Tags: #AMightyFortressIsOurGod, #ArtisticDirector, #BalletMusic, #BalletScore, #BaroqueEra, #BaroqueMusic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BrassMusic, #BrassQuintet, #ChicagoGargoyleBrassandOrganEnsemble, #ChristianChurch, #ChristianReligion, #Clairdelune, #ClaudeDebussy, #ComeYeSonsofArt, #CompactDisc, #CraigGarner, #DavidMarlatt, #DoctoralDegree, #EinFesteBurg, #EnglishBaroqueMusic, #EnglishComposer, #FacebookPost, #FairyTale, #FanfareMagazine, #FilmMusic, #FilmScore, #FilmSoundtrack, #GoodShepherdLutheranChurch, #HenryMancini, #HenryPurcell, #HornMusic, #IgorStravinsky, #ImaginaryJourney, #JaredStellacher, #JazzMusic, #JerryGoldsmith, #JesusChrist, #JohannSebastianBach, #LouisVierne, #LutheranReligion, #MadisonPremiere, #MarkLathan, #Master'sDegree, #MovieMusic, #MovieScore, #MovieSoundtrack, #MusicLover, #NewMusic, #NewWorks, #OrchestralMusic, #OrganMusic, #PercussionMusic, #PipeOrgan, #RecordReview, #RodneyHolmes, #TheFirebird, #TromboneMusic, #TrumpetMusic, #TubaMusic, #UniversityofCalifornia-LosAngeles, #UniversityofChicago, #UniversityofTexas-ElPaso, #YaleUniversity, adventure, arrangement, Artistic director, Arts, astornomical, astronomy, aural, award, Bach, ballet, Baroque, blog, brass, Brass quintet, building, calm, Cantata, Chamber music, Chicago, Chicago Gargoyle Brass and Organ Ensemble, Chorale, Christ, Christian, chuch, Clair de Lune, Classical music, commission, Compact Disc, composer, conductor, Craig Garner, David Marlatt, Debussy, debut, discoveries, discovery, doctorate, drama, Early music, Earth, Earthscape, elegance, Facebook, faculty, fairy tale, Fanfare, fantasy, forward, founder, free, free concert, gargoyle, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, groundbreaking, Halloween, Henry Mancini, Henry Purcell, Horn, hymn, Igor Stravinsky, imaginary, instrument, interstellar, Jacob Stockinger, Jared Stellmacher, Jazz, Jerry Goldsmith, Jesus, Johann Sebastian Bach, journey, link, listen, Louis Vierne, Madison, magazine, Mark Lathan, master's, moonlight, movement, Music, music lover, nourishment, orchestral music, organ, percussion, percussionist, perform, piece, pipe organ, popular, post, posting, premiere, publiuc, Record review, rocket, Rodney Holmes, Russia, Russian, scoring, space, stone, Student, Suite, teach, Teacher, The Firebird, time, tonight, Trombone, Trumpet, Tuba, UCLA, United States, University of California-Los Angeles, University of Chicago, University of Texas-El Paso, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, warmth, Wisconsin, Yale University, YouTube
Recent Comments
 | Bill Lane on The new Apple Music Classical… |
 | Augustine on The new Apple Music Classical… |
 | samanthacrownoversbc… on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | Ronnie on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | welltemperedear on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
The Well-Tempered Ear 