Evento

ECHS Alumni Band Concert with Brazzissimo

The culminating event for the ECHS Band Reunion Weekend. Joining the Alumni Band in performance is the Bay Area based brass ensemble, Brazzissimo. Brazzissimo is comprised of players from a wide spectrum of music and professional backgrounds including symphony, opera, big bands, Latin bands, show pit orchestras, soul-funk, jazz and Dixieland combos. The ensemble has performed extensively throughout Northern California as well as in Beijing, Woohan, Yichang and Shanghai, China participating in the 2004 International Heritage Festival.

Music Director of Brazzissimo, Dean Boysen, discusses their program, "Our programs reflect a musical passion for the past, present and future. We accomplish this by programming our concerts with classical works, jazz standards, and show tunes. Latin favorites and new works by up and coming arrangers and established composers are also featured. [...] We generally begin concerts with classical works representing those of Bach and Shostakovitch etc. followed with familiar jazz standards and show tunes from the 1940s onward."

Over the course of this three-day event, the school will honor all former ECHS Band Directors (living and deceased) and will feature talent from the past and present. In addition to connecting to the alumni and former music teachers at ECHS, attendees also have the opportunity to purchase a written history of the instrumental music program at El Cerrito High School; a narrative that documents the history, accomplishments, course offerings, awards, first hand accounts from former band directors and alumni, and photos of the bands from throughout the decades. Included with the written history, a six disc box set with archival recordings of ECHS bands, orchestras, and jazz bands dating as far back as 1956.