Juvavum Brass Festival	Dec 4 2000

Kocani Gypsy Brass Band The 6th Juvavum Brass Festival took place in Salzburg, Austria, October 4-8. The festival was hosted by Horst Hofer, the founder of Juvavum Brass (1985) and the Lungau Big Band (1983). Individual classes with Bo Nilsson, a brass clinic with euphonium specialist Robert Childs, and jazz workshops and lectures with New York saxophonist Bob Mintzer were offered to the participants during the festival. Every night spectacular concerts took place in the Mozarteum, Rockhouse or Stiegl's Braugewölbe, featuring one of the performing groups and artists: Juvavum Brass & Allen Vizzutti, Heavy Tuba with Jon Sass (tuba) and Doretta Carter (vocals), Salzburger Landesblasorchester with Robert Childs, Kocani Gypsy Brass Band (Macedonian), Morovanka (a Czech wind ensemble), and last but not least the Lungau Big Band & Bob Mintzer. The festival was attended by musicians on all levels. They found themselves interacting with renowned performing artists and pedagogues, and new ensembles rising from fresh initiatives in the eastern part of Europe. With their 10 brass players plus percussion, Juvavum Brass presented the American trumpet virtuouso Allen Vizzutti to an enthusiastic Austrian audience. Besides Vizzutti's richly styled music, Juvavum Brass' own transcriptions of baroque music as well as original compositions filled the program. Salzburger Landesblasorchester was founded in the New Year 2000, and consists of ambitious musicians, music teachers and members of Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg. Under the direction of Johann Ebner, they demonstrated a high degree of perfection in performing new and technically demanding literature. In the Balkan area, brass bands started out in the 19th century as an imitation of the Turkish military orchestras, which in turn had succeeded the traditional percussion-based ensembles. The Kocani Orchestra from the new republic of Macedonia (formerly Yugoslavia) performed oriental brass music in a refreshing and most creative way. Intricate Turkish-Bulgarian rhythms and Eastern-style solos sounded both inspiring and exciting. Morovanka, "the king of Czech wind music," has for several decades been the most celebrated brass band in their country. The band consists exclusively of professional musicians holding leading positions in the symphony and opera orchestras of Brünn. Jan Slabák, the orchestra's conductor, is also its founder. With their individual style of folklore, temper and feeling, they completely captured the attention of the audience. Allen Vizzutti, soloist, with the Juvavum Brass Lungau Big Band is one of the most active jazz orchestras in Austria. In 1999 they were invited to the 33rd International Jazz Festival in Montreux, and received enthusiastic reviews. They have performed with stars such as Bobby Shew and James Morrison. In this year's festival, the Lungau Big Band gave it all to Bob Mintzer and his saxophone! For the second time at Juvavum, Bo Nilsson, the Swedish trumpeter and master teacher (of Håkan Hardenberger and Otto Sauter) gave abundantly of his competence in the Juvavum Brass Festival. The type of brass instrument upon which a student performed made no difference. Bo Nilsson's eye and ear for the musician's individual needs was a gift to anyone who needed help in the process to become a better player. The next Juvavum Brass Festival is planned for October 5-7, 2001, possibly featuring the Empire Brass (USA). Read more about Juvavum Brass and their festival at: http://www.juvavum.at/ Lungau Big Band: http://members.aon.at/lbb/ Source: Vera Hørven, European Correspondent

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