Audience members both young and old filled the intimate space of Baker Center Theatre to enjoy music from the horn quintet Boston Brass.
The group played a sold-out performance Tuesday night and delighted audience members with musical pieces like “Cantata 40” by Johann Sebastian Bach and “The Ritual Fire Dance” by Manuel de Falla.
The instrumentalist walked onstage to applause from the audience and wasted no time in playing their first song “Danza Fantastica.”
The audience sat attentively and tapped their feet in time to the music. As the night progressed and the group got fancier with their songs, many audience members’ heads began to tilt to one side in amazement as they took in the notes and rhythms of each musical piece.
“This piece of work is an awesome guide to the Boston Brass,” Sam Pilafian, the group’s tuba player, said of the Bach piece “Little Fugue in G minor.”
The Bach piece highlighted each member of the group, which consists of Pilafian, Chris Castellanos on French horn, trumpet players Jose Sibaja and Jeff Conner and trombone player Domingo Pagliuca.
Though the group shares a close musical bond, they also share a deep connection as humans. The members were proud to announce that Pagliuca had recently become a U.S. citizen.
“Welcome, Domingo, to where there are no speed limits on trombones in the United States, “ Pilafian said.
Pagliuca then moved to center stage to be featured in a John Philip Sousa piece that once again had the audience entranced with his playing ability and his trombone slide moving quite quickly.
The first act of the show was completed with two lively jazz pieces, “Milonga Del Angel” by composer Astor Piazzolla and “It Ain’t Necessarily So” from the opera Porgy and Bess.
After a 20-minute intermission, the group started the crowd back up with a popular 1920’s jazz piece by Jack Teagarden entitled “Stardust.” One audience member in particular was feeling the energy from the song and let out an “Oh yeah!” The night ended with an arrangement of Billy Joel’s “Lullabye.”
Members of the audience came straight from campus or traveled from other schools, like William Adkins, a sophomore from West Virginia studying music education and performance.
“I really enjoyed listening to Sam Pilafian, but I thoroughly enjoyed listening to all of them,” he said. “It was just a great experience to see them.”
It was a general feeling from those in attendance that this group was something spectacular. Sheridan Wilson, a freshman studying music education, was one who was in agreement.
“It was probably the best performance I had probably seen in my whole life,” she said.
