The Brass and Ivory Trio – Cory Mixdorf (left), Miroslava Panayotova and Richard Rulli – are set to perform at 7:30 p.m. Thursday (Feb. 14) in Nutt Auditorium. Submitted photo
OXFORD, Miss. – Brass and ivory converge to create a fascinating musical treat for Valentine’s Day at the University of Mississippi.
The Brass and Ivory Trio will perform at 7:30 p.m. Thursday (Feb. 14) in Nutt Auditorium, offering an inventive program and rich, beautiful music to those celebrating – or even avoiding – Valentine’s Day this year.
Although brass soloists are common, the trio features both a trumpet and a trombone playing with piano, which is a far less traditional scenario. It may be more unusual, “but it works,” said Micah Everett, UM associate professor of music.
“The featured composers all wrote a number of compositions for brass soloists,” he said. “Extending that compositional style to two brass players is a logical step and makes possible a wider range of timbres while still retaining a soloistic quality.”
The program features the music of Leonard Bernstein, Jean-Michel Damase, Joseph Turrin and Jan Koetsier.
“Jan Koetsier’s music is particularly entertaining,” Everett said. “He writes extremely well for brass, and always manages to write music that is serious, but with humor, almost as if he is winking at the listener.”
The Brass and Ivory Trio is Richard Rulli on trumpet, Cory Mixdorf on trombone and Miroslava Panayotova on piano. All three musicians are on the music faculty of the University of Arkansas.
Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children or anyone with an Ole Miss ID, and are available from the UM Box Office or at the door.