Lexington Brass Band
Instructors from seven area colleges, public school music instructors, students and talented amateurs from a variety of professions make up the Lexington Brass Band. The colleges include Asbury College, Centre College, Cumberland College, Eastern Kentucky University, Georgetown College, Kentucky State University and the University of Kentucky.
The band began in 1992 and is in the tradition of a British-style brass band. The instrumentation is: E-flat soprano cornets, B-flat cornets, flugelhorns, E-flat alto horns, B-flat baritones, euphoniums, tenor and bass trombones, tubas and an array of percussion.
One measure of the group's success was its performance in December at the prestigious Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago.
A non-competitive member of the North American Brass Band Association, the band recently hosted the International NABBA Brass Championships. The concert, in which the Lexington Philharmonic joined them, received rave reviews.
In May, they were featured at the International Trumpet Guild's annual convention with British cornet virtuoso Roger Webster as their guest. They have made several compact discs, including ``Good Company,'' which features the outstanding soloists in the band as well as Philip Smith and Vincent DiMartino. Smith is principal trumpet with the New York Philharmonic and DiMartino is artist in residence at Centre College and founding member of the Lexington Brass Band.
Ronald Holz and Skip Gray are conductors of the group. Holz is professor of music literature and instrumental music at Asbury College. He is president of the North American Brass Band Association and director of the Salvation Army Student Fellowship Brass Band. Gray is professor of tuba at the University of Kentucky where he developed a studio and tuba-euphonium ensemble.
