Accomplished trombonist Brad Edwards to perform in free recital at WMU

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Brad Edwards, trombone professor at Arizona State University, will present a guest recital at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 9, in Western Michigan University's Dalton Center Recital Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

With a style that has been variously described as "passionate," "fiercely vigorous," and even "humorous," Edwards has appeared as a soloist before audiences in the United States and Europe. His solo credits include radio and television broadcasts, premieres of new music, guest recitals at colleges and regional workshops, and concertos with student and professional orchestras and wind ensembles. He has twice been featured as a soloist with "Pershing's Own" U.S. Army Band at the American Trombone Workshop in Washington, D.C. As a member of the Air Force Concert Band, he was twice featured as a soloist.

His CD, "Trombone And…," features concert duets pairing the trombone with other instruments. It includes several works written for and premiered by him as well as one of his own compositions, Five American Folksong Sketches. Of this recording, Audiophile magazine wrote:

"Trombonist Brad Edwards is an accomplished musician. The performances are all excellent, and the pairings with other instruments, particularly the marimba are quite interesting."

Edwards

Edwards began teaching trombone at Arizona State University in 2016. Previously, he taught at the University of South Carolina as well as the University of Northern Iowa. Other teaching positions have included Franklin and Marshall University and Kinhaven Music School.

He is best known for his pedagogical books including, Lip Slurs, Lip Slur Melodies as well as the Trombone Craft and Simply Singing for Winds series. He has published a number of pieces through the International Trombone Association Press that are available from Warwick Music, including "Blue Wolf," which has been recorded three times, and "Four Impromptus for Low Bone Alone," which was selected for the national solo competition of the American Trombone Workshop. More recently, he was commissioned by the state of South Carolina to compose all-state audition solos for all woodwinds and brass on a three-year cycle. He has extended this project into a website, auditionsolos.com.

In addition to the Air Force Band, Edwards has held positions as principal trombonist of the South Carolina Philharmonic, Symphony Orchestra Augusta and the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Symphony. He has also been the bass trombonist of the Cedar Rapids Symphony and the Arlington Symphony in Virginia. He has performed with such ensembles as the Baltimore Symphony, the Kennedy Center Opera Orchestra, the brass choir of the National Symphony, Hartford Symphony, the Charleston Symphony, the Charlotte Symphony and the Baltimore Opera Orchestra and the Wintergreen and Cabrillo Festival Orchestras.

He has shared the stage with such diverse artists as Ray Charles, Dave Brubeck, Ben Folds, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Olivia Newton John, Wynona Judd, the Gatlin Brothers, Robert Merrill, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Roger Daltry. In 2007, he was selected to be participant at the prestigious Alessi Seminar in New Mexico.

For more information about the concert, visit wmich.edu/music or call (269) 387-4667.

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