Hailed as “Five brilliant young players” by renowned composer William Bolcom, the West End Brass Quintet is one of New England’s most prominent emerging chamber ensembles. Formed in 2008, the quintet features trumpeters Joseph Hart and Joseph Sabia, hornist Theresa Rice, trombonist Matthew Russo, and tubist Katherine Bonner.
The West End Brass Quintet regularly performs in venues throughout Connecticut, including the Charter Oak Cultural Center, The Old State House, and the Curtis Cultural Center in Meriden, as well as the many performance halls at the University of Hartford. Season highlights of 2009-2010 included a solo performance of Eric Ewazen’s Shadowcatcher with The Hartt Wind Ensemble at The Hartt School as winners of the 2009 Paranov Concerto Competition, featured performers at the 2010 Chicago Brass Festival, participants in the 2010 Jewish Film Festival of Hartford, and featured performers in the 2010 Hartford Women Composers Festival, performing works by prominent women composers of New England.
As members of the Hartt School’s “Performance 20/20” program, the West End Brass Quintet participated in coachings with the renowned Hartt School faculty including Scott Mendoker, tubist with Philadelphia Brass Quintet; Kevin Cobb, trumpeter with the American Brass Quintet; Daniel Grabois, hornist with Meridian Arts Ensemble; and Robert Black, bassist with Bang on a Can.
As advocates of new music, the West End Brass Quintet embarked on an ongoing project in the spring of 2009 in conjunction with the Northeast New Music Collective to commission composers to write new repertoire for brass quintet. In the spring of 2009, the quintet premiered “Metallurgy” by Erik Nielsen and in Fall 2009 Paeans Jess Turner’s. 2010 saw premieres of Sean Pallatroni’s segment of the film score, Hungry Hearts, and the premiere of the brass version of Rain Worthington’s Tangents. In August 2010 at the Monomoy Theatre the WEBQ will premiere Reflections by Tim Fisher.
Joseph Hart, Joseph Sabia, and Katherine Bonner have recently finished their Master’s Degrees at The Hartt School in Spring 2010, with bachelor’s degrees earned from The Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, The Conservatory of Music at Purchase College, and The Eastman School of Music, respectively. Matthew Russo is currently enrolled in the Master’s Program at The Yale School of Music at Yale University, and holds a bachelor’s degree at The Hartt School in Trombone Performance and Music Education. Theresa Rice is currently working towards her bachelor’s degree at The Hartt School in Horn Performance and Music Education.
