American Tuba Euphonium Quartet

When listeners hear the American Tuba Euphonium Quartet, it will be a dream come true for Ken Kroesche, who plays euphonium and teaches at Western Carolina University.

The idea for the group originated six years ago when he played at a conference with Tom Stein. Stein, a tuba player, teaches at University of Missouri in Kansas City.

"We decided at that point that we wanted to form a group. Every year, we said, "`We ought to do this,'" Kroesche said.

They finally selected euphonium player Ross Walter of Virginia Commonwealth University and tuba player Joe Skillen of Louisiana State University to join them.

The Great American Brass Band Festival will be their first public performance.

"This is our maiden voyage I guess. We are four colleagues who have known each other for a number of years. We've wanted to play together and this was our first opportunity to do so."

They will offer a mix of light, popular favorites.

"We'll do some Joplin rags and German ohm-pah music. We'll also do some jazz and maybe a Sousa march here or there."

With the distance separating them, they made decisions about what to play via e-mail and phone calls.

"We'll get together two days before the festival and rehearse," Kroesche said.

They don't get to practice together much but they have plenty of opportunity to play.

"We're all professional performers and we play with several groups."

Naming the group also was tricky.

"Until a couple of months ago, I still didn't have a name for the group. So we settled on the generic name."

They think the festival will be a great play to make a debut.