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Gettysburg Festival announces lineup for brass music entertainment

(Gettysburg, Pennsylvania) - 4/1/2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE �

 

CONTACT:

Karen Hendricksk

PR/Marketing Director

[email protected]

(717) 334-0853

(717) 253-3553

 

 

The second annual Gettysburg Festival will offer performances by more than 400 brass musicians, ranging from talented quintets to prestigious military bands, and music ranging from traditional brass to ragtime and contemporary pieces. All of the festival�s brass concerts are offered as free performances open to the public, including the headline performer, Pittsburgh�s critically-acclaimed, 28-member River City Brass.

 

�This is one of the finest lineups of brass performers in America,� explains Ben Jones, Gettysburg Festival Artistic Director for Brass. �It is my hope that brass audiences are inspired and joyful as a result of being immersed in the incredible sounds of brass music in Gettysburg.�

 

The Gettysburg Festival, June 18-28, offers about 100 cultural events in all genres of the arts including brass, jazz, orchestra, culinary events, theater, cabaret, visual arts and children�s events.

The Festival�s brass lineup kicks off on Thursday, June 18, with the dynamic 28-member River City Brass, making their Gettysburg debut. The band is known as �the Boston Pops� in brass!�

 

�River City�s outstanding repertoire, from classical to pop, plus traditional marches, has all the ingredients needed for an unforgettable beginning to the Festival,� said Jones.

 

Throughout the weekend, 18 brass bands will offer 23 performances in eight venues. Other highlights include:

 

  • The Coburn Brass Band will perform authentic music from the American Civil War and early 19th century, directly on Lincoln Square during the Gettysburg Farmer�s Market, also the site of Festival culinary demonstrations.
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  • The 8th Regiment Band will offer several performances at the Gettysburg Festival Main Stage as well as the Gettysburg National Military Park�s Visitor Center and Pennsylvania Monument. The �new� 8th Regiment Band is a recreation of the Band of the Eighth Regiment, Georgia Volunteer Infantry who served in from 1861 to 1865. Performing songs and music from both side of the war, the band aims to create �a museum of 19th century American emotions.�
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  • The Wildcat Regiment Band will perform both at the Festival Main Stage and Gettysburg National Military Park�s Visitor Center. The Civil War-era Wildcats plays genuine wartime quicksteps, ballads, overtures and marches, using authentic Civil War era instruments.
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  • The U.S. Army Brass Quintet, sponsored by the organization �Music, Gettysburg!� will play at the Gettysburg Lutheran Seminary. 
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  • The final Festival brass performance is a very unique event titled �For the People,� featuring text by Abraham Lincoln and original composition by Gettysburg College professor and composer John William Jones. Sponsored by the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College and endorsed by the Pennsylvania Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, �For the People� is an oratorio for brass, woodwind octet and soloists. Performers include the Spires Brass Band, the Sunderman Conservatory of Music Woodwind Octet, soprano Kathleen Sasnett, tenor Jeffrey Fahnestock and bass-baritone Roosevelt Credit.

 

A complete schedule of brass entertainment can be found at