The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Music will present its second annual Brass Symposium Feb. 8-9, 2013. The Brass Symposium is a two-day event that involves clinics, rehearsals and performances by high school and college-level students. The deadline to register is Jan. 25; registration is closed.
International trumpet soloist and Shires Trumpets Performing Artist Vince DiMartino will be the featured clinician and guest artist, and will perform in two free public concerts. DiMartino, a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, taught trumpet, brass and jazz ensembles and jazz history until 2012 at Centre College, where he is now the distinguished W. George Matton Professor of Music Emeritus. As an artist, he has been the lead and solo trumpet in the Lionel Hampton Band, the Chuck Mangione Band, the Clark Terry Band and the Eastman Arranger’s Holiday Orchestra. He has been an artist/faculty member with the Empire Brass Quintet-Tanglewood summer program, Spanish Brass Festival in Alzira, Spain, and Kalavrita brass course in Greece, and has given seminars in England, Ukraine, Thailand, Germany and Canada.
At 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 8, DiMartino will perform with the UAB Jazz Ensemble under the direction of UAB Assistant Professor Steven Roberts, D.M.A., in the Jemison Concert Hall of UAB’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center (ASC), 1200 10th Ave. South.
At 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 9, the symposium will culminate with a “Festival of Brass” concert in the ASC. DiMartino will perform with the UAB Brass Choir under the direction of UAB Assistant Professor James Zingara, D.M.A. The UAB Trumpet Ensemble and several honors brass ensembles, made up of area high school students, also will perform. The event will offer the ceremony, scope and variety of a typical band concert, and will conclude with a spectacular mass finale of more than 150 performers. Contact Zingara for more details at 205-934-6625 or jzingara@uab.edu.