Community Corner
GMS North Teacher Leads Elgin Symphony Youth Orchestra
Jason Flaks directs the brass choir of the Elgin Youth Symphony and has a show coming up April 9.
Jason Flaks is a busy man.
Not only will Flaks perform a 2 p.m. Sunday at the 227 East Side Drive, in a faculty recital that benefits the Geneva Music Boosters, but you can see him direct a youth brass choir this April with the nationally recognized Wisconsin Brass Quintet.
The EYSO brass choice performs with the WBQ at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, April 9, at the First Congregational Church, 256 E. Chicago Street, Elgin. Tickets may be purchased through the ECC Box office by phone (847) 622-0300, or online at http://tickets.elgin.edu: $23, $18 for seniors, and $12 for students. In addition to the concert, a FREE master class (also at the First Congregational Church) will be offered at noon.
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The Wisconsin Brass Quintet is an ensemble-in-residence at the University of WI-Madison School of Music. Current members include John Aley (trumpet), Mark Hetzler (trombone), Douglas Hill (horn), John Stevens (tuba) and Douglas Lindsey (trumpet).
The quintet has performed throughout the nation, giving audience members the opportunity to experience brass chamber music. They also offer educational programs and master classes which have been presented in such prestigious settings as the Julliard School and the Yale School of Music.
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The WI Brass Quintet is regularly featured on radio broadcasts and they have produced two CDs. Their initial CD features Verne Reynolds and two works of John Stevens. John Stevens is Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is also a member of the Wisconsin Brass Quintet, a UW-Madison faculty ensemble-in-residence, and “Symphonia”, America’s acclaimed, professional tuba/euphonium ensemble.
Stevens has enjoyed a varied career as an orchestral, chamber music, solo and jazz performer, composer/arranger, conductor and administrator. As a composer and arranger with over 50 original compositions and almost as many arrangements to his credit, Stevens is internationally renowned for his works for brass, particularly for solo tuba, tuba/euphonium ensemble and brass quintet.
He is the winner of numerous ASCAP awards and has received many composition grants and commissions. In 1997 he was commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to compose a tuba concerto. In 2003, The Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra commissioned Stevens to compose Fanfare of Hope for the EYSO Brass Choir.
