Sarasota BrassFest offers jazz, classical and pop music

It may be the largest professional brass ensemble that’s ever played a concert in Florida, ever.

It’s pretty difficult to confirm that, but officials from the First Brass of Sarasota say that as far as they know, no one in the state has ever put together a brass band like the one that will perform Sunday at Church of the Redeemer in Sarasota. And they say they probably would have known about it if it had been done before.

The event is called Sarasota BrassFest. It’s a program of the First Brass of Sarasota and the ensemble includes about 30 professional trumpet players, trombonists, French horn players and tubas/euphonium players. They’re all musicians from this area, but some of them have some impressive credentials, including experience playing with Tony Bennett and the Sarasota Orchestra.

On Sunday evening at the Church of the Redeemer, they’ll perform a program that mixes jazz, classical and popular music, including a jazz version of a Bach fugue that will open the concert, and some original compositions.

Besides all that brass, the ensemble includes organist Ann Stephenson-Moe, the organist/choirmaster of the Church of the Redeemer, and vocalist Sharon Scott. The master of ceremonies will be ABC7 anchorman Scott Dennis. He’s a trumpet player himself, and a friend and schoolmate of several of the musicians. He’ll play trumpet with the ensemble on at least one of the pieces.

Details: 5 p.m. Aug. 28, Church of the Redeemer, 222 S. Palm Ave., Sarasota. $20; under age 18 free. 941-928-0296, thefirstbrass.org.

This story was originally published August 24, 2016 at 4:57 PM with the headline "Sarasota BrassFest offers jazz, classical and pop music."