The new millennium is here and
audiences and critics agree that the future is Boston Brass. This fresh
brass sensation is setting new standards in entertainment from exciting
classical arrangements, to breathtaking vocal harmony, to burning jazz
standards. Prize winners at the 1992 International Brass Quintet
Competition in Narbonne, France, Boston Brass is primed to achieve new
levels in brass performance while treating audiences to a musical
experience that can encompass all ages. The ensemble's lively repartee,
touched with humor and personality, bridges the vast ocean of classical
formality to treat audiences with fun times, exciting knowledge and a love
of all types of music deftly exhibited by the dashing performers.
Boston Brass has transcended the
traditional mores of brass ensemble literature and has pioneered a new
generation of music that sets out to achieve one simple goal: entertain at
all costs with blistering precision. Whether they are performing solo or
with a symphony orchestra, the fun and love exhibited from this group is
uniquely infectious and keeps audiences on their feet demanding encore
after encore.Performing over 90 concerts annually, the members of Boston
Brass have displayed their skills in such cities as New York, Portland,
Seattle, Philadelphia, Detroit, Dallas, San Antonio, Minneapolis,
Sacramento, and Los Angeles. Commitment to education is a high priority
for Boston Brass as they have conducted master classes at colleges and
universities around the country including University of Connecticut,
Syracuse University, Boston College, Northwestern College, and Notre Dame.
Along with their instrument sponsor, C.G. Conn, Boston Brass has also
presented clinics and concerts at regional educational conferences in New
York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Texas.
In addition to being featured on
National Public Radio's "Performance Today," Boston Brass has
recorded several albums. Two of these exciting albums appear on the Summit
Records label: Stealing the Show, a collection of overtures and Young
Fogeys, a collage of jazz and swing favorites.
The summer of 2000 will prove to be
an exciting time as Boston Brass teams up with the legendary jazz
recording genius of Rudy van Gelder. This collaboration will further
explore the innovative jazz styles that have propelled Boston Brass to the
forefront of popular chamber music.
J.
Melvin Butler has been Organist/Choirmaster of St. Mark's Episcopal
Cathedral in Seattle since 1992.
At St. Mark’s he is responsible for the entire music program
which includes directing three choirs and playing the four-manual Flentrop
organ. He
is also Artist-in-Residence at the University of Washington where he
teaches organ improvisation.
From 1972 through 1991 he was Organist/Choirmaster of the Downtown
Presbyterian Church in Rochester, NY.
During that time he was also Associate Professor of Church Music at
the Eastman School of Music, a violist with the Rochester Philharmonic
Orchestra, and Music Director and Conductor of the Rochester Bach Festival
Chorus. From
1968 to 1972 he was violist with the U. S. Navy String Quartet and
Organist of the First Congregational Church in Washington, DC.
As
organist, Dr. Butler has performed extensively in the United States and
Great Britain; his New York City debut was in 1971, and his London debut
was in 1989 at St. Paul's Cathedral. Butler has also performed as baroque
violist and harpsichordist with the Genesee Baroque Players in Upstate New
York. Also a published
composer, his works have been performed throughout the United States.
In 1983 he was awarded a Winston Churchill Traveling Fellowship by
the New York City branch of the English-Speaking Union for choral
conducting study in England and Scotland.
He often presents master classes and lectures on various aspects of
church music, choral conducing, and hymn playing and has been a featured
performer/lecturer at several AGO conventions.
Originally from Burlington, NC, Butler received the Bachelor of
Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music as an organ student of
Garth Peacock, and the Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees
from the Eastman School of Music where he studied organ with David
Craighead.
The
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
has said of his playing:
“There
was no doubt about Butler’s capabilities.
His performances....gave ample evidence not only of his technical
ability but his creative use of registrations.”