Melos Brass, the leading brass ensemble of Greece with member Sokratis Anthis, Associate Teacher in the Ionian University, joined forces again with some of the internationally acclaimed brass musicians for a series of brass seminars. This year's guest teachers were Frits Damrow (trumpet), Jens Bjorn Larsen (tuba) and Luca Benucci (horn). Jay Friedman taught trombone and ran the student brass ensemble. Sixty three students of various levels participated in the seminar.

There were four main concert events in the Ionian Summer Music Academy this year. On July 17, Melos Brass and the guest teachers of the seminar presented a concert featuring solo works. On July 18, the ‘alternative sound’ of the Valkani Brothers Band from Florina performed traditional Balkan brass melodies of Macedonia. The Corfu Municipal Choir joined with the Melos Brass on July 20 for a concert of rarely-played repertory, including Greek songs and melodies of the 1920s and 1930s, which is a relatively neglected part of the music of Greece. The seminar led up to the student brass ensemble concert on July 21, where the students performed a diverse program under the direction of Jay Friedman. Additionally, every day student ensembles performed open-air concerts and offered musical events in the streets of Corfu, a unique opportunity for the participants to perform.

The audition for the soloists, who are going to perform in the Athens Brass Festival 2010, took place on July 22 in the auditorium of the Ionian Academy. Each year a special concert of the Athens Brass Festival (which is organized by the Megaron Concert Hall and the Municipality of Athens, under the artistic direction of Melos Brass) features five young brass soloists (participants of the Corfu summer seminars), accompanied by the Athens Municipal Symphonic Orchestra.

The Brass Section of the 8th Ionian Summer Music Academy will take place from July 17th to 24th, 2010 in Corfu. More information is available at the Melos Brass Quintet website: (www.melosbrass.gr).

Source: Dr. Konstantinos Kardamis and Sokratis Anthis