With featured guests the Boston Brass in town, the Tarleton State University Wind Ensemble showed that they could hang with the big guys. The Wind Ensemble and the Boston Brass delivered what was expected – pure excellence.

The Boston Brass is a brass musical group that has been around for the last 26 years. The group consists of: Jeff Conner and Jose Sibaja, trumpet; Chris Castellanos, French horn; Lance Laduke, trombone/euphonium; and Andrew Hitz, tuba. This is the group’s third season touring together and Chris Castellanos is the latest to join the group, with Jeff Conner as the founding member. The group has helped raise over $100,000 for VH1’s Save the Music Foundation, and have performed for The Early Show on CBS, NPR’s Performance Today, and the Royal Academy of Music in London. The Boston Brass performs in about two to three dozen Brass Day type performances each academic year.

Tarleton’s Brass Day opened with two numbers performed by the Wind Ensemble; Finlandia composed by Jean Sibelius, and Blue Shades composed by Frank Ticheli. The guest composer for the opening two numbers was Greg Ball.

The Wind Ensemble and the Boston Brass then performed Introduction and Vivace as well as Cinematic Fantasy, both composed by Rick DeJonge. Tarleton’s own Dr. Anthony Pursell conducted the two scores.

Finally, the Brass Day participants from Stephenville High School Performed “America the Beautiful” and “Stars and Stripes Forever” alongside the Boston Brass and the Wind Ensemble in honor of the tragic lost sustained in Boston on April 15.

Brass Day will return to Tarleton on Feb. 8, 2014. To view more information on the Boston Brass, visit BostonBrass.com.