The River City Brass Band is a modified British-style brass band based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The band performed its first concert on November 21, 1981, with its founder Robert Bernat as conductor. In addition to its accessible performance style, RCBB is renowned for its recordings and original compositions. Part of its mission is to propagate and promote the brass band through recordings and commissioning new works and arrangements. To date, RCBB has released fifteen recordings that are distributed nationally and internationally. The band annually performs nearly sixty concerts in the Pittsburgh area. RCBB differs from most brass bands in that the instrumentation has been altered. French Horns are used instead of alto horns, and a Eb soprano trumpet is employed in place of a soprano cornet. The result of the soprano trumpet is a lighter, brighter, more "orchestral" sound than the traditional brass band.
On April 29, 2010 the band appointed a new conductor to replace retired conductor Denis Colwell after a series of concerts with guest conductors "auditioning" for the spot. James Gourlay of the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, was selected, and will be leaving Scotland in August.
| Pittsburgh portal |
Famous quotes containing the words river, city, brass and/or band:
“The first man to discover Chinook salmon in the Columbia, caught 264 in a day and carried them across the river by walking on the backs of other fish. His greatest feat, however, was learning the Chinook jargon in 15 minutes from listening to salmon talk.”
—State of Oregon, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“This was once
a city among men, a gathering together of spirit.
It was measured by the Lord and found wanting.”
—Robert Duncan (b. 1919)
“No stout
Lesson showed how to chat with death. We brought
No brass fortissimo, among our talents,
To holler down the lions in this air.”
—Gwendolyn Brooks (b. 1917)
“What passes for identity in America is a series of myths about one’s heroic ancestors. It’s astounding to me, for example, that so many people really seem to believe that the country was founded by a band of heroes who wanted to be free. That happens not to be true. What happened was that some people left Europe because they couldn’t stay there any longer and had to go someplace else to make it. They were hungry, they were poor, they were convicts.”
—James Baldwin (1924–1987)