GRAMMY-NOMINATED BAY BRASS ANNOUNCES CONCERT HONORING BAY AREA LEGEND DICK AKRIGHT ON FEBRUARY 28 On February 28, 2012

at 8pm in the San Francisco Conservatory of Musics Caroline Hume Concert Hall, The Bay Brass will perform a concert in honor of long-time Bay Area instrument repair and craftsman Dick Akright. The program features works that have never been performed by The Bay Brass, including a world premiere by Bay Area trombonist Wayne Wallace, plus works by Debussy, Gabrieli, and Philip Glass, all with special connections to the year 2012. Proceeds from this performance will be donated for scholarships in Akrights name for deserving young musicians to attend La Honda Music Camp, a favorite cause of his. Dick Akright has provided essential support to the Bay Area and national brass player community for over 42 years at the thriving Best Instrument Repair Company in Oakland. Dick has been the foremost primary-care brass instrument doctor when repairs are needed, often on an urgent basis, helping his musical patients to achieve high-level performances whether in the local schools, symphony orchestras or jazz and rock bands. His basement shop, with its subterranean charm, soldering torches ablaze and instruments stacked high, has been the nexus of Bay Area brass life and Dick has been

the paragon of warmth and understanding to all who enter. His generosity to those in need has been legendary and The Bay Brass joins the wider community in our best wishes to Dick on his health challenges. About The Bay Brass The Bay Brass newest CD, Sound The Bells!, was recently nominated for a 2012 GRAMMY award for Best Small Ensemble Performance. Released in March 2011, the album features premiere recordings of recent American works for brass and was released on the Harmonia-Mundi label. Gramophone magazine states this Harmonia Mundi SACD release is a brilliant showcase for the thrilling beauty of tonal brass music in the new century, and the splendid virtuosity of the Bay Brass. Founded in 1995, The Bay Brass is comprised of brass players from the San Francisco Bay Areas leading performing organizations, including the San Francisco Symphony, the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Symphony Silicon Valley. As a true cooperative, The Bay Brass has no principal players and no music director. Rather, its musicians share in all of the organizational and musical responsibilities of the ensemble. In addition, members also conduct, arrange, and compose, allowing for expanded creative opportunities for each musician. The Bay Brass prides itself on the diversity of its programming, combining the traditional brass repertory with jazz and other contemporary styles and featuring a mix of large-scale symphonic brass ensemble works and compositions for smaller combinations of players. Since its inception, a priority of the ensemble has been the commissioning of new works in an ongoing effort to expand and enhance the repertoire for brass ensemble. Premieres by The Bay Brass have included pieces by the California Composers Consortium, Bruce Broughton, Morten Lauridsen, Kevin Puts, Scott Hiltzik, Wayne Wallace and Michael Tilson Thomas, and past guest conductors of the ensemble have included Michael Tilson Thomas, Donald Runnicles, Michael Morgan, Alasdair Neale, Edwin Outwater, A. David Krehbiel, Charles Floyd, Harvey Felder, Bruce Broughton and Stuart Chafetz. The Bay Brass has performed many concerts in and around the San Francisco Bay Area, including appearances at Grace Cathedral, Davies Symphony Hall, Sacramento State University, Stanford University, and the University of California, Berkeley. The Bay Brass was one of the featured performing groups at the 1996 International BrassFest held in Long Beach, CA and was also featured at the 25th Festival of New American Music in Sacramento. The ensemble has been presented on radio broadcasts throughout the Bay Area and, since 2003, has been the Ensemble-In-Residence at the Menlo Summer Brass Institute and Festival. In October 2000, The Bay Brass released its first CD, A Brass & Organ Christmas (Gothic Records), recorded in Grace Cathedral with organist John Fenstermaker. If youre looking for festive Christmas music by brass and organ, noted The American Record Guide, you wont find a better recording than this one. The arrangements are lovely and unusual, the

performances loving.... The Bay Brass is a truly wonderful brass ensemble with a fullbodied sound and no rough edges. THE BAY BRASS honor DICK AKRIGHT February 28, 2012 8 pm San Francisco Conservatory of Music 50 Oak Street Caroline Hume Concert Hall Tickets: $10-$40 suggested donation. Available online or at the door.