Mainstreet Brass will present a concert at 4 p.m., on Sunday, May 20, the season finale for the “Cathedral Classics” at Cathedral Church of the Nativity, 321 Wyandotte St., Bethlehem, Pa.

“We’re thrilled to be returning to Cathedral Classic series,” said Don Hughes, co-principal trumpet of the Mainstreet Brass. “It’s one of the most dynamic and diverse concert series in the Lehigh Valley held in a resplendent sanctuary, with great audiences and a legendary post-concert reception.”

The program will feature works by J.S. Bach, Offenbach, and Tchaikovsky, as well as music from the American musical stage, the swing era, Celtic traditions and from the cinema.

“We’ll be presenting an exciting and eclectic program ranging from the baroque era to Jelly Roll Morton,” Hughes said. “It’ll be great fun.”

Click here for more information about the music program at Cathedral Church of the Nativity.

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Mainstreet Brass named to Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour roster

Quintet among 135 of Pennsylvania’s finest performing artists

Mainstreet Brass has been selected for inclusion in the 2012 PennPAT Artist Roster, a program of the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation that encourages and supports touring by a pre-selected roster of Pennsylvania based performing artists in music, dance and theater.

“We’re thrilled to be on a roster that includes the finest Pennsylvania has to offer from its rich performing arts tradition,” said Kevin Long, co-principal trumpeter with the Mainstreet Brass. “PennPAT is great program to enhance that tradition and bring the Commonwealth’s best art, theater, dance and music to a broader audience.”

The 2012 Roster is comprised of 135 outstanding and diverse performing artists and ensembles, including dance companies/solo, dance artists, musicians or music ensembles, and theater artists/groups and storytellers. PennPAT increases opportunities for professional performing artists to obtain successful touring engagements. PennPAT Roster Artists are eligible for a variety of grants, services and support related to touring.

PennPAT also generates earned revenue for Roster Artists by supporting touring engagements with presenting organizations in the Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The first deadline for presenters to apply for funding for an engagement with a 2012 Roster Artist is February 15, 2012, for projects scheduled between June 1, 2012 and May 31, 2014. The guidelines and application are available at www.pennpat.org.

For Mainstreet Brass booking information, call 610-515-0298 or send an email to info@mainstreetbrass.com

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Mainstreet Brass recordings on the MSR Classics label continue to receive critical acclaim from the news media and trade publications.

Holiday Classics and Future Favorites for Brass Quintet

“By Request,” released in 2008, received a review in the March 2010 issue of the International Trumpet Guild Journal. The CD is a collection of Mainstreet Brass concert favorites as well as music requested by its audiences over the years. The 18 selections presented on the recording, many of them commissioned by Mainstreet Brass, range from classical, to blues and swing to folks songs.

“Mainstreet Brass is a unique and talented quintet that is willing to take risks. The group is to be commended and thanked for taking the initiative to commission new works for brass quintet,” said Mark Lynn of the University of North Texas. “This album is an entertaining example of cogent brass quintet playing.”

He described the “high-flying virtuosic playing” by Mainstreet Brass trumpeters Kevin Long and Don Hughes as “fantastic.”

The quintet’s latest CD, “Christmas Spirit,” (MS1325) released in 2009, features new, festive holiday arrangements for brass and brass and percussion. It includes a range of Christmas music from traditional carols to a unique musical treatment, with narration, of “A Christmas Carol,” the 19th century literary classic by Charles Dickens.

“The Mainstreet Brass gives us a bountiful program of Christmas carols and traditional that range from heavenly mystery to down-to-earth revelry,” said Phil Muse of the Audio Video Club of Atlanta. “For pure delight, this Christmas offering is hard to resist.”

“The Mainstreet Brass turns everything it touches into holiday gold with originality and stylistic flair,” said Steve Siegel of The Morning Call newspaper. “Its reading of ‘Joy to the World’ is perhaps the best I have ever heard, with resounding trumpet fanfares, baroque trills, and timpani-like drums.”

A collection of our favorites

“By Request” was also praised by Robert Schulslaper in the July/August 2009 issue of Fanfare magazine, one of the largest, oldest and most respected classical music publications.

“There’s something for everyone in this enjoyable collection,” Schulslaper wrote. “Mainstreet Brass enters winningly into the spirit of the varied selections with exuberant fluency… This CD [By Request -- MSR 1290] should please Mainstreet Brass’s many fans who often asked for recorded versions of the group’s repertoire, the impetus for the CD, as well as anyone who would enjoy hearing this attractive program played by an excellent, versatile ensemble.”

“Christmas Spirit” and “By Request” are available at our online store by clicking here.

Both recordings were produced and engineered by Richard Price, president of Candlewood Digital, a Connecticut-based company of classical recording specialists. A nationally known arranger, conductor and brass player, Price has more than 900 commercial CDs to his credit during his nearly 20 years in the recording industry.

Founded in 1997, MSR Classics is an independent record label committed to musical excellence and supporting recording artists. MSR Classics is managed by Robert LaPorta, a 20-year veteran of the recording industry who has served as classical director of the EMI Classics and Virgin Classics labels.