The Millennium Brass: L-R: Vincent DiMartino, Lisa Bontrager, Martin Erickson, Scott Hartman, Richard Illman

The Blackwelder Brass Quintet from Oklahoma City University performs at the Ski Center

Martin Erickson and Vincent DiMartino clinic the Kansas State University Brass Ensemble

More than 120 brass players converged on Kalavrita, Greece from January 2nd to the 9th for the 2007 Exploring Brass in Greece workshop that took place in this idyllic mountain setting. Organized by George Babarakos and Vincent DiMartino and executed with the support of the town’s mayor Athanasios Papadopoulos and the artistic help of Gerassimos Ioannidis, this week-long event combined the perfect combination of high-level music making, master classes, social events, sight-seeing, and cultural enlightenment.

Each day was organized so that participants could warm up in groups of like instruments, meet with their ensembles to rehearse, attend master classes, have time to wander the town of Kalavrita, hike up into the surrounding hills, come together at a great local restaurant for meals, and end the day with a fantastic concert that would feature several student ensembles and then conclude with a set by the workshop’s “feature” professional brass quintet…the Millennium Brass (Vincent DiMartino and Richard Illman – trumpets, Lisa Bontrager – horn, Scott Hartman – trombone, and Martin Erickson – tuba). The entire week was crafted so that each day helped to prepare students as the week progressed toward the penultimate concert, a nearly three-hour-long extravaganza, on the evening of Monday, January 8th, at a concert hall in Markopoulo, near Athens.

Participating universities and their respective faculty sponsors included: Appalachian State University (Bill Jones and Harold McKinney), Bowling Green State University (Charles Saenz), the University of Arizona (Edward Reid), the University of Florida (Joyce Davis), Oklahoma City University (Michael Anderson), Kansas State University (Gary Mortenson and Paul Hunt), Syracuse University (John Laverty), University of Kentucky (Mark Clodfelter), Michigan State University (Richard Illman), Penn State University (Lisa Bontrager), and Wichita State University (Donald Duncan). Also attending were Michelle Stebleton (Florida State University) and Richard Jorgenson (Arkansas State University).

One of the more unusual playing opportunities for the week came with a trip to the “Cave of the Lakes,” an interesting labyrinth of caves deep under the mountains 17 kilometers outside of Kalavrita, and then on to the Kalavrita Ski Center. The Ski Center is situated 1700 meters above sea level with the highest peak rising even higher to 2340 meters. Before the concert, everyone rode the ski lift to the top of the mountain for stunning views reaching all the way to the Mediterranean Sea more than 50 kilometers away! Once back down the mountain, participants took out their instruments and presented a forty-minute concert outside the lodge (in the snow!) for the enjoyment of the center’s patrons. It was a most unique setting with people sledding all around the performers!

The experience gained from interacting with so many wonderful musicians throughout the week and in such a unique cultural setting, came together in the final concert to a packed house in Markopoulo. Prior to the concert, everyone checked into hotels in Athens and had a day to begin exploring this incredible city. Participants ran into each other on the Acropolis, on the grounds of the Agora, and in the many shops and restaurants around the hotels. Once at the concert site, however, all thoughts were on the music and on performing one last time for each other and for the many who came out to see the concert. The following groups/repertoire made this last event memorable for all in attendance:

Stadt Wien by R. Strauss (Markopoulo Festival Ensemble); Two Fanfares by Martin Mailman (Appalachian State University Brass Ensemble); Hansel and Gretel by Humperdinck (Festival Horn Ensemble); “Fugue” from Requiem by W. A. Mozart, Movement I from Frost Fire by Eric Ewazen, and Jingle Bells arr. Eric Gale  (Oklahoma City University Brass Quintet); Suite Americana by Enrique Crespo (Michigan State University Brass Quintet); España by V. Bujanovsky (horn solo by Michelle Stebleton); Two Movements from The Planets by Gustav Holst (Syracuse University Brass Ensemble); Two Greek Folk Melodies arr. Mavropouls (Mixed ensemble of workshop participants); Londonderry Air arr. Iveson, If I Could Only Dance by Scott Freeby, and Paris le Soir by Hogarth (Kansas State University Brass Ensemble); Four Movements for Five Brass by Collier Jones (University of Arizona Brass Quintet); That’s A Plenty by Lew Pollack and Carnival of Venice arr. Del Staigers (University of Kentucky Brass Quintet); Movements II and IV from Four Sketches for Brass Quintet  by Anthony Plog and Basin Street Blues arr. Spencer Williams (University of Florida Brass Quintet).

At this point in the concert, the Millennium Brass took the stage to perform three works. All week this group had performed with incredible style, intonation, ensemble, dynamic contrast, and just plain old panache. What a treat it was for everyone to hear this world-class group one last time in Greece. Their set consisted of arrangements of “Hoe Down” from Rodeo by Aaron Copland, Prelude No. 2 by George Gershwin (featuring incredible solo trombone playing from Scott Hartman), and Sweet Georgia Brown. After an encore and rousing applause for Millennium, all of the Exploring Brass in Greece participants (students and faculty) came to the stage to perform Strauss Stars, an arrangement of music by Strauss merged with theme music from Star Wars written especially by Mavropoulos, and “The Great Gate of Kiev” from Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky. It was an appropriately “earth-shattering” ending to a night all in attendance will long remember. One only hopes the foundations of the concert hall survived the vibrations of the last two pieces!