Trumpeter/musicologist/composer Raymond Burkhart presented his paper "Brass Chamber Music in Circuit Chautauqua" at the International Wind Music History Conference in Northfield, Minnesota. The July conference was a joint meeting of the Historic Brass Society and the Internationale Gesellschaft zur Erforschung und Förderung der Blasmusik (IGEB) and was held in conjunction with a Vintage Band Festival. The conference involved 38 scholars from the United States, Canada, Austria, Bulgaria, New Zealand, Finland, Sweden, England, Belgium, Poland, and Luxembourg, and the Vintage Band Festival presented 16 vintage bands from the United States and Germany.

Burkhart's paper revealed the activity of small brass ensembles, particularly brass quartets, within Lyceum and on the Chautauqua circuit in early 20th century America. The position of these ensembles and their music within the context of the history of brass chamber music and in relation to brass band music was also explored, as were aesthetic, social, and organological considerations.

Burkhart, who is the Instructor of Trumpet at Pomona College and Instructor of Baroque Trumpet at Claremont Graduate University, also performed two of his original compositions for unaccompanied trumpet, The Seven Angels and "Solo" from A Summer Remembrance, for the Historic Brass Society membership meeting which officially closed the conference.
Although his compositions were relatively modern, he agreed to perform them on the original instrument, a Bb trumpet.

 

Websites:
Historic Brass Society
IGEB (in multiple languages including English)
Vintage Band Festival
Raymond Burkhart