Triton Brass Quintet Continues UA Celebrity Series

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Triton Brass Quintet, the dynamic ensemble that features five of the Boston area’s most talented young musicians, will perform on The University of Alabama campus at 2 p.m. Jan. 31 in the Concert Hall of the Moody Music Building.

The performance is part of the School of Music’s 2009-2010 Celebrity Series in UA’s College of Arts and Sciences.

“It will be an entertaining event that will cover not only classical music, but also jazz and a little pop music as well,” said trombone player Wesley Hopper. “It will cover pretty much every period of music history.”

Hopper said the performance also will be a homecoming of sorts for him. He is originally from Decatur and studied music at UA while in high school.

Triton’s members teach and perform at The Boston Conservatory as artists-in-residence. They have served as chamber music faculty at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute since 2005.

They have won prizes at the 2005 Lyon International Chamber Music Competition and the 2003 Fischoff International Chamber Music Competition.

The quintet has performed multiple world premieres in recitals throughout the United States. It maintains an ongoing “call-for-scores” open to all composers and collaborators.

Triton’s members are freelance musicians who perform in a wide variety of settings in and around Boston. Members of Triton Brass have performed with the Boston Symphony, The Boston Pops, Boston Philharmonic, Vermont Symphony, New Hampshire Symphony, Portland Symphony and the orchestra pits of Broadway shows.

The group gave its first public performance in 2001, and its five members have remained unchanged since then: Shelagh Abate, french horn; Stephen Banzaert, trumpet; Wesley Hopper, trombone; Andrew Sorg, trumpet; and Jobey Wilson, tuba.

The group’s name comes from the Greek mythology character, Triton, who had the body of a man and a tail of a dolphin and would blow his conch shell like a trumpet to control the ocean’s waters.

Single ticket prices are $22, $15 and $7 for students. For ticket information, or an immediate credit card purchase, phone the School of Music Box Office at 205/348-7111. Visit http://music.ua.edu/celebrity-series for more information on the series.

UA’s School of Music is part of the College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.