MEDIA CONTACT: Judy Moore at 847-491-4819 or jkm229@northwestern.edu

May 3, 2005

Brass Ensemble to Perform

EVANSTON, Ill. --- The golden tones of horns, trumpets, trombones and tuba will fill

Pick-Staiger Concert Hall at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 6, when Northwestern University hosts the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (RCO) Brass Ensemble, a 14-member group from Amsterdam, Holland.

The brass ensemble will perform antiphonal music as well as 20th century works, including pieces by Raphael Mostel -- one of New York’s most popular and original composers -- and RCO timpanist Nick Woud.

A pre-concert talk with composer Raphael Mostel will be held at 6:45 p.m.

Mostel’s “Night and Dawn” was commissioned to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Netherlands’ liberation from Nazi occupation on May 5, 1945, and has been underwritten by the Netherland-America Foundation. The foundation seeks to maintain and strengthen the ties of friendship between the Netherlands and the United States and operates under the patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet of the Netherlands and her husband The Honorable Pieter van Vollenhoven.

Founded in 1888, the Concertgebouw Orchestra not only provided Amsterdam with its own haven of music but also rapidly became one of Europe’s most prestigious ensembles. With a character all its own, the orchestra has been universally recognized as one of the world’s leading symphony orchestras. Composer Richard Strauss described it as “really magnificent, full of youthful vigor and enthusiasm” in 1897.

Successive generations of musicians have contributed to the progress of the orchestra’s character. The orchestra was granted Royal status in 1988 and has made more than a thousand recordings.

Concert tickets are $12 for the general public; $8.50 for senior citizens and Northwestern faculty and staff; and $5.50 for students. Admission to the pre-concert talk is free to concert ticket holders.

To order tickets, call the Pick-Staiger Ticket Office at (847) 467-4000.