The Trombones of the Saint Louis Symphony are one of the nation’s leading brass chamber ensembles, dedicated to elevating the status of the trombone quartet and to expanding the trombone quartet repertoire.
At 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20, the group will present a free concert of music spanning the 18th through 21st centuries in the Tisch Commons of the Danforth University Center.
Courtesy Photo
The Trombones of the Saint Louis Symphony: (from left) Jonathan Reycraft, Gerry Pagano, Timothy Myers and Stephen Lange.
The program will open with “Toccata and Fugue in D minor,” perhaps the earliest well-known masterpiece by Johann Sebastian Bach. Next will be “Myths and Legends,” a contemporary work for four trombones, by composer Eric Ewazen.
After a brief intermission, the program will continue with the “Overture to The Magic Flute” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, followed by three short works from Claude Debussy: “Minstrels,” “The Girl with the Flaxen Hair” and “Golliwog’s Cakewalk.”
Concluding the program will be “Three Preludes” by George Gershwin and “Bolivar” by Eric Cook.
Formed in 2006, the Trombones of the Saint Louis Symphony are composed of four distinguished members of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO): Stephen Lange, Timothy Myers, Gerry Pagano and Jonathan Reycraft.
Lange has held the assistant principal trombone chair since 2000 and has performed as principal trombone of the Colorado Music Festival since 2005. Prior to joining the SLSO, he spent a season with the San Antonio Symphony and also has performed with the New York Philharmonic, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Kennedy Opera House Orchestra and the Extension Ensemble. A graduate of Indiana University and The Juilliard School of Music, he also is a teacher of applied music at Washington University.
Myers joined the SLSO in 1983 and has held the Mr. and Mrs. William R. Orthwein Principal Trombone Chair since 1997. He has performed as a soloist with the SLSO and the Aspen Music Festival and also performed with the Chicago Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, Summit Brass and the Bay Brass. He is a graduate of Northwestern University.
Pagano joined the SLSO as bass trombonist in 1995 and previously spent eight years as a member of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. A graduate of The Juilliard School, he has played with The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra of New York, the San Francisco Symphony and the New Jersey Symphony.
Reycraft is the SLSO’s utility trombonist and previously served as assistant principal trombonist with the U.S. Naval Academy Band in Annapolis, Md. A graduate of the Indiana University School of Music and the University of Maryland, he recently competed in the Minnesota Orchestra Zellmer Competition and in the 2004 National Solo Competition.
The performance is sponsored by the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences and the Danforth University Center. For more information, call 935-5566.