Rarely does the brass faculty of DePaul’s School of Music perform together on stage, so their Dec. 17 program, presented to coincide with the 2004 Midwest Band Clinic, affords a special opportunity for concertgoers to witness the extraordinary talents of these fine teachers and professional players. The concert will begin at 2 p.m. in the Merle Reskin Theatre, 60 E. Balbo Drive. Tickets are $10; advanced group sales are $5 apiece.

Ten members of DePaul’s faculty will perform: John Hagstrom, Matthew Lee and Ross Beacraft, trumpets; Jonathan Boen and Oto Carrillo, horns; Mark Fisher, Timothy Coffman, Charles Vernon and Thomas Matta, trombones; and Fred Selvaggio, percussion. These musicians have affiliations with distinguished institutions in the city, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Opera and the Chicago Brass Quintet. The ensemble will be conducted by Vince Cichowicz, one of Chicago’s most respected and popular trumpet players. Four additional guest artists will perform: Dave Gauger, trumpet; Daniel O’Connell and Daniel Vidican, horns; and Pete Link, tuba.

The performance is being produced by Floyd Cooley, a DePaul faculty member since 1992 and former member of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra’s tuba section. The concert is not only a perfect vehicle for recruiting students but also keeps the DePaul faculty in the public eye, Cooley said, noting that a performance and teaching roster of this caliber reflects the School of Music’s ability to attract fine musicians to its faculty and demonstrates its overall excellence.

According to Cooley, the musical selections have been chosen to highlight different brass sections as well as individual player skills. Music by Paul Dukas, Gustav Holst, Alexander Tcherepnin, Johann Vierdanck, Jules Semler-Collery and Matta (one of the performers) as well as Robert Ward and Pavel Chesnoknov will be performed.

For more information please call the Reskin Theatre Box Office at (312) 922-1999.