Known to blow her own horn, a DeWinton band teacher and French horn player is offering a rare treat to music lovers.
Kristin Stearn is one of 18 brass instrument players with the Rocky Mountain Symphony Orchestra offering the concert Brilliant Brass, featuring five trumpet players, five French horn players, four trombone players, one tuba player and three percussionists, at the Okotoks United Church Oct. 19 at 7:30 p.m.
The orchestra’s full brass and percussion families will play the music of Back to the Future III, Bohemian Rhapsody and Olympic-themed songs, among others.
“It will be the kind of concert where people will pretty much have their hair blown back because it’s going to be very loud and in your face, but in a good way,” said Stearn. “The selection of music is really difficult. It’s really high-level stuff that even myself as a brass player has never come across. It’s really challenging but a lot of fun.”
Stearn was invited to join the orchestra for its second season three years ago by founder and musical director Carlos Foggin, who saw Stearn play with other ensembles in Calgary. For Stearn, it was an easy decision.
“I was really impressed with what the Rocky Mountain Symphony’s mandate is,” she said. “They bring the orchestra to small towns and just allow people to have that experience without having to go downtown to the symphony.”
For Stearn, it was another opportunity to play orchestra music.
“It’s the opportunity to work with excellent musicians to play really high level music,” she said. “There’s very few places to do that.”
Stearn began playing the French horn in junior high school. In post secondary school she earned a performance degree. She’s now a band teacher at St. Francis of Assisi Academy in DeWinton.
Stearn continued playing the French horn because she said the best parts are written for the instrument.
“It’s got a really glorious sound to it,” she said. “It can blend with any instrument so it’s really versatile.”
The Rocky Mountain Symphony Orchestra consists of musicians from the Foothills north to Red Deer, all of whom are either selected or audition for a spot on the orchestra, said Foggin.
“What makes us different from other groups around is it’s really a professional ensemble,” he said. “Most of our players have a master's degree in their instrument and have been playing for 20 plus years. The players decide who their colleagues are. It’s to a really high level and they hold themselves very accountable.”
The mandate of the orchestra, said Foggin, is to bring orchestral music to smaller communities. It performs in more than half a dozen communities each season, he said.
As for the idea of highlighting just the brass section of the orchestra, Foggin said it offers diversity in the programming.
“This is something orchestras just don’t do,” he said. “It’s a really rare opportunity to hear this kind of music. A brass choir like this is usually only a European thing. To have it in rural Alberta is really rare. It’s quite ambitious.”
Foggin said brass instruments have evolved the past couple of centuries. For instance, trumpets at one point didn’t have buttons and French horns didn’t have valves until 1830, he said.
“Now that we have modern instruments, the brass sections can really do a lot more than what they could in the 1800s,” he said. “Why not show what these guys can really do.”
While most people view brass instruments as loud, Foggin said top-notch players like those in the orchestra succeed in making them sound very lyrical and their song selection for the concert will show that well.
“We’ve got a nice selection of all sorts of different things and ranging in time periods back to the 1500s to music that was written recently,” he said. “The music was selected by the players themselves. I gave them cart blanch to choose what they wanted to play.”
“We’ve got the biggest and best that’s written for one brass show.”
Tickets to see Brilliant Brass cost $30 for adults, $25 for students and $5 for children under 12. They can be purchased at www.rmso.ca, by calling 403-255-9368 or at the door.
