Creating Their Own Canon: The American Brass Quintet at Oberlin College

The American Brass Quintet is a diverse group that distinguishes itself from the typical idea of a chamber music ensemble. First formed in 1960, the American Brass Quintet emerged at a time when new music for brass instruments was rare. Seeking to fill this void, the group chose to focus almost entirely on performing works they commission from living composers. The Quintet’s Emerging Composers Program specifically produces quintets by rising stars in the field. As of today, the quintet has premiered more than 150 new works for brass, performed across five continents, and is regarded as one of the premier chamber groups. 

“This is a legacy we have carried on,” says trombonist Hillary Simms, who joined the group in 2023. “We don’t play any arrangements of popular classical music.”

The group will showcase its focus on innovative new works at its Oberlin concert, hoping to captivate the audience through a variety of music and emotions.

One program highlight will be Sacred Geometry, a striking work by David Biedenbender inspired by the architecture of Antoni Gaudí, who designed the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. “[The piece] is spectacular, energetic, emotional, and lively,” says trombonist John D. Rojack, “with a nod to heavy metal rock at the end.”

Audiences should also look forward to Quinteto Concertante by Osvaldo Lacerda, with movements reminiscent of Brazilian folk music that zero in on each instrument. The ensemble will play the spirited first movement of Book of Brass, a quartet devised for the group by the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon.

Additional contemporary pieces will include Philip Lasser’s Common Heroes, Uncommon Land, which features spoken-word sections, and Anthony Barfield’s Samsara, a beautifully written homage to the Buddhist concept of rebirth by one of the quintet’s former students. 

The one technically classical work in the program, a Baroque piece by John Dowland titled Can She Excuse My Wrongs?, has a modern twist first popularized by Sting.

Rojack considers the concert more of a film than a movie, saying, “It will be something you can discuss and think about, and it stays with you for days after you leave… It still surprises me how often people say that they had no idea brass could do the things we did.”

In addition to its performance at Finney Chapel, the American Brass Quintet will hold an educational residency on campus, leading multiple master classes on different instruments. These efforts are part of the group’s additional focus on educational initiatives, which have included being faculty-in-residence at the Juilliard School. 

The quintet’s horn, Eric Reid, expressed great excitement about working with Oberlin students: “It’s a kind of perfect fit for us to do a residency here, where we know that chamber music and contemporary music are highly valued.”

Quintet members will also lead a career talk for students navigating work in the music industry. “We can open up the floor and address that there is not just a single path in our business,” Reid says. 

Ultimately, the American Brass Quintet stands out for its focus on the future. In line with this focus, Hillary Simms recalls one of her first assignments in the ensemble: playing in the premiere of the Barfield piece included in the Oberlin program. She points out the level of creative freedom she had in bringing this piece to life. 

“It has a big trombone cadenza in the middle of it…and [the group] gave me free rein artistically on what to do with it, so it just felt amazing to join a group that let me do that.” 

Whether through an intentional focus on new commissions by renowned and emerging composers, the creative freedom given to its members, or initiatives that educate the next generation of players, these five musicians are creating their own canon for what brass can be for decades to come.

For a final word on the upcoming concert, Rojack emphasized the joy it will bring alongside its innovation. “In our current climate, we need something that helps everybody feel great. That will leave people smiling and thinking for a while.”