By: RACHEL NUNER
Staff Writer
rnuner@iusb.edu
If you’re a jazz fan, you know the name Marsalis.
The Rodney Marsalis Philadelphia Big Brass band will certainly be playing jazz tunes when they visit campus March 5, but that’s not all. Further, the group’s show, titled “Brothers on the Battlefield,” will feature a multimedia presentation regarding the Civil War.
The show is set to begin at 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 5, in the Campus Auditorium of IUSB’s Northside Hall. Tickets are available in advance for $7 to $10, and admission is free to students and children.
Prior to Saturday evening’s big show, the brass ensemble will present at the Raclin School’s Convocation Class at 12 p.m. noon on Friday, March 4, in the Performance Hall, and will host a brass “master-class” at 4 p.m. in the Education and Arts Building, room 1103. These two events are free as well as open to the public.
According to a press release from the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts, “Brothers on the Battlefield” is a theatrically staged production including a historically informative narrative and multimedia presentation to go along with the music.
Six expert brass musicians and one pianist will reflect on two major milestones in American history—the Civil War and Civil Rights Movement—by performing a repertoire that includes influential American music, spanning the eras of the two events and beyond.
“The concert is tied together through the narration of dramatic readings from Civil War letters and inspirational readings by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., complimented by breathtaking imagery projected behind the performers,” according to the press release.
Well-known works such as “When the Saints Go Marching In,” selections from the beloved “West Side Story,” “Amazing Grace” and “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” and the toe-tapping John Philip Sousa march “Stars and Stripes Forever” will make for a fun-filled and memorable evening. The audience will likely recognize the melody to almost all of the tunes.
The Rodney Marsalis Philadelphia Big Brass is considered one of the world’s leading brass ensembles. Always striving to reflect the diverse makeup of men and women in American culture, the group is especially dedicated to reaching out to youth and inspiring them to reach for their dreams, according to their website. “The group is especially dedicated to reaching out to the world’s youth and inspiring them to reach for their dreams.”
In recent years the group has been invited to perform in major music halls around the world including China’s National Center for the Performing Arts, Tangelwood’s Seiji Ozawa Hall, and several prominent halls in Brazil and Italy.
If any trumpet players are specifically interested, Marsalis will also hold a trumpet “master-class” at 5 pm on Thursday, March 3, in the Band Room at Penn High School (enter at door C).
