Thomas Boulton, trumpet

It has been an incredibly busy month, which is perhaps rare for musicians in September-October preceding the holiday season when things really gear up.  Performances have included shows with Brass Roots Trio at Elmira College in Elmira, New York; Brassworks Brass Quintet (North Jersey based); Symphony in C (formerly Haddonfield Symphony, based out of Camden/Philadelphia); in addition to the usual special occasion church services that pop up around this time of year, including the 100th Anniversary of Our Lady of the Mount Catholic Church in Warren, New Jersey (pictured here).  I particularly loved the stone-work of this chapel, but we performed at the more modern (and more size appropriate!) church across the street.

Brass Roots Trio is headed on tour again this upcoming weekend for performances on Saturday, October 22nd and Sunday, October 23rd with shows in Chelsea, Michigan and Sandusky, Ohio.  It is a complete coincidence that, being from the Midwest, I have rather odd experiences with both locations on a personal level.  My first trip through Chelsea, Michigan was when I was in my early teens riding across the state on my bicycle, with an organization called Pedal Across Lower Michigan, whose acronym is a play on words with the “mitten state” – P.A.L.M.  Upon cycling through town, we made arrangements to meet up with a family friend whom would later become my first college band director.  Our final stop on the tour in Sandusky, Ohio isn’t so much an odd experience, but rather it will be the first time I am in town to do something other than ride a roller coaster!  Sandusky is of course most famous for its celebrated theme park, Cedar Point – a place which I frequented nearly every year from middle school through my undergraduate years.  I’ll never forget the time we rode Millennium Force four times in a row – there was no line!  At the time, it was the world record holder for tallest at 310 feet and fastest at 93 miles per hour.  I digress; no coasters this trip, but I’m hoping concert-goers feel that our show will be just as exciting.

I’ve been enjoying a lot of exciting freelancing opportunities lately and I’ve barely had anytime to sit at the computer to share them.  Tonight I’ll be performing at the MATA Festival with one of my truly favorite performing groups, Metropolis Ensemble.  Metropolis has grown so much over the last few years and the projects are just as great as the people within and running the group.  It’s a true joy.

Tonight we’ll be performing a few works, but the headliner is Brad Balliett’s The Rake, which borrows the storyline from Stavinsky’s The Rake’s Progress.  The show will feature Brad and his twin brother Doug performing as protagonist Tom Rakewell and his inner voice in a hip-hop style frenzy (coined Hip-Hopera) along with multimedia presentation and limited electronic music – the orchestra provides 99% of the music, versus some of the M.E. projects in the past.  (There are clips available of the studio version on Brad’s site but I prefer not to link them here as there are some language issues for the younger readers!)  The show takes place tonight at 7:30pm at Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker Street, New York, NY.

I am happy to announce that once again this year, I will be hosting a master class at Eastern Michigan University with special thanks to host professor, Mr. Carter Eggers.  I am presenting two separate sessions on Sunday, March 20th – morning and afternoon sessions.  Both sessions are open to the public.