Summary of International Low Brass Festival

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The International Low Brass Festival was a 3-day international festival that featured 28 world-class low brass artists / ensembles. The festival was free and live-streamed on YouTube from 5 am to 9 pm PST. Audience members got to view masterclass performances from professionals such as Adam Frey or Denson Paul Pollard, view their favorite content creators such as Christopher Bill perform some of their favorite pieces, and even listen to ensembles like the Eastman Trombone Choir and Slokar Quartet. Additionally, frequent Q&A sessions allowed viewers to address any potential questions that they may have regarding the low brass community, ranging from advice on going pro, to more technical aspects regarding mouthpieces and intonation to improve their playing.

 

The festival took an immense planning effort that involved multiple branches of the Low Brass Network Staff team, headed under the president, Lester Yu, over the course of 11 months. A large quantity of emails and calls had to be completed to onboard the new performers into the festival and organization, as well as discuss benefits and compensation. Corporate sponsors were also identified to provide the majority of these benefits (see Section 3). The staff team worked diligently to secure the cooperation of around fifteen sponsors. Additionally, members of the staff team had to constantly be online in order to move the festival along, play ad breaks when necessary, and address any technical difficulties. Our team spent over 2,500 hours in the total planning and execution of the festival.

Overall, the festival was a success, garnering up to 300 participants at times, with high levels of engagement and thought-provoking discussions on the future of low brass in classical music. Artists and low brass players were able to come together and enjoy their shared fondness of low brass instruments.