Lewis, North America Brass Company to perform arrangements for tuba

Concert:  Roger Lewis, tuba & the North American Brass Company
Date and time:  Friday, Sept. 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Music Center’s Rieth Recital Hall
Cost:  $7 adults, $5 seniors/students. GC faculty/staff/students are free with valid ID. Tickets will be available at the door one hour before the concert.

Goshen College adjunct music instructor and tubist Roger Lewis will present a music recital in Rieth Recital Hall on Friday, Sept. 6, at 7:30 p.m.

The first half of the concert will feature works and arrangements for tuba and piano by C.P.E. Bach, Donald Swann, James Grant and Roger Kellaway. Pianist Mary Rose Jordan Norell will accompany Lewis. The second half of the concert will feature the North American Brass Company, a brass quintet comprised of local performers, including Lewis. The quintet will perform works and arrangements by Morten Lauridsen, Joaquin Rodrigo, J.S. Bach, James Horner and more.

Tickets are $7 for adults, $5 for seniors/students. Goshen College faculty, staff and students are free with valid ID. Tickets are general admission and are available at the door beginning one hour before the concert. 

Roger Lewis teaches tuba, euphonium and low brass at Goshen College and Southwestern Michigan College. He is the low brass specialist for the Miraphone Company and currently is principal tuba with the Whiting Park Festival Orchestra and the Quintessence Chamber Brass. He has worked as a substitute with the Boston “Pops,” the Southwest Michigan Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, the South Bend Symphony, the La Porte (Ind.) Symphony and the Elkhart Symphony (having held the principal tuba position for 12 years). Lewis is a founding member of the NABC.

The North American Brass Company (NABC) is a professional brass quintet specializing in innovative performance and teaching programs. The NABC engages the audience by combining music and fun. They have performed at the Krasl Art Center, Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor and across the Midwest.

Other musicians performing during this recital include:

Jay Crouch, Trumpet – Crouch is a retired public school music teacher of 31 years. He has performed with Southwest Symphony, Elkhart Symphony and the St. Joseph Municipal Band. He currently works for B&S USA in Elkhart and teaches private trumpet at Southwestern Michigan College. Crouch also performs with the Ed Bagatini “New” Swing Orchestra and with Black River Jazz. 

Charles Steck, Trumpet – Steck teaches at LaPorte High School and is the trumpet instructor at Valparaiso University. He is the principal trumpet of both the LaPorte and Elkhart symphonies. Steck also performs with the St. Joseph Municipal Band and the Tom Milo Big Band.

Gary Cooper, Trombone – Cooper is the “artist in residence” at St. Joseph High School. He maintains a large studio of private students and performs with the Whiting and Southwest Symphonies and the St. Joseph Municipal Band. Cooper is also a talented vocalist.

Bill Browne, French Horn – Browne teaches band and orchestra at Culver Academies. Prior to teaching at Culver, Bill played with the United States Marine Band, also known as “The President’s Own,” in Washington D.C. He is active as a soloist, performer, guest conductor, teacher and adjudicator for area and regional music groups and organizations.

Pianist Mary Rose (Jordan) Norell has developed a vibrant performance career at home and abroad, concertizing in Ravinia’s Bennett Gordon Hall and Chicago’s Cindy Pritzker Auditorium, as well as in England, Austria, Italy, and Lithuania. Active as a concerto soloist, Norell has played with numerous orchestras, including the Northwestern Summer Orchestra, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic and the Elkhart County Symphony. As a collaborative artist, she performs regularly with her husband, Luke, as the Norell Piano Duo and performs often with vocalists and other instrumentalists. Norell completed her doctorate in piano performance with James Giles at Northwestern University, graduating as a member of Pi Kappa Lambda.