41st Annual
Spring Festival
May 2 - 16, 2027
2027 Artists
Friends Chuck Daellenbach and Gene Watts first came together in 1970 to form a brass quintet — a chamber music setting not entirely new, but never before having garnered the success and storied career Canadian Brass would achieve over the next 40 years. Initially, Gene took on the role of developing new repertoire while Chuck was the moving force in marketing, publishing, and managing the business. Three empty chairs were quickly filled and together, the group’s imagination and consummate musicianship elevated the art of the brass quintet to what it is today. Here was not only an opportunity to explore the possibilities of an all-brass chamber group but a challenge to bring the sound and the excitement of brass music to new audiences.
Masters of concert presentations, Canadian Brass has developed a uniquely engaging stage presence and rapport with audiences. Each of their concerts will show the full range from trademark Baroque and Dixieland tunes to new compositions and arrangements created especially for them – from formal classical presentation to music served up with lively dialogue and theatrical effects. The hallmark of any Canadian Brass performance is entertainment, spontaneity, virtuosity and, most of all, fun – but never at the expense of the music:
Whatever the style, the music is central and performed with utmost dedication, skill, and excellence.
With a discography of over 130 albums and an extensive world-wide touring schedule, Canadian Brass is an important pioneer in bringing brass music to mass audiences everywhere. They have sold well over 2 million albums worldwide, with 1.2 million sold in the Nielsen Soundscan era alone (since 1991). They continue to score Billboard chart positions — like with their rousing recording of patriotic songs and marches, Stars & Stripes: Canadian Brass Salute America, which spent 8 weeks in the Top 25 on the Billboard Classical Chart, peaking at #2! Touring legends with an enthusiastic fan base, the Canadian Brass play to packed houses everywhere throughout the USA, Canada, Japan and Europe.
They have also toured Australia, the Middle East, the Soviet Union and South America. They were the first brass ensemble from the West to perform in the People’s Republic of China (where they returned for a 5-city tour to great acclaim in the spring of 2010 and several visits after this, including an appearance on Hunan TV for Chinese New Year) as well as the first brass group to take the main stage at the venerable Carnegie Hall. On numerous occasions Canadian Brass has been invited by the Canadian Government to play for visiting heads of states, becoming one of Canada’s greatest resources and musical ambassadors.
Millions of television viewers have had Canadian Brass in their homes with appearances on The Tonight Show, Today and Entertainment Tonight and recently to more than 1/2 a billion viewers for Chinese New Year on China’s most popular station. They have appeared as guest artists on Evening at Pops with John Williams and the Boston Pops, Beverly Sills’ Music Around the World, numerous PBS specials, including a celebrated appearance on Sesame Street, and are frequent guests of many major symphony orchestras. Canadian Brass were the featured artists on the soundtrack to the 1988 film The Couch Trip, starring Dan Aykroyd and Walter Matthau. Consummate artists, the quintet has also created unique and interactive videos that have gained an international audience including a series of DVDs featuring the brass in concert and teaching. They are on the cutting edge of technology offering their fans multimedia airplay, downloads, YouTube videos and streaming opportunities. You can find them on Facebook and Instagram with their fanbase growing daily!
The varied Canadian Brass repertoire features brass standards as well as a wide-ranging library of original arrangements. These include the works of Renaissance and Baroque masters, Classical works, marches, holiday favorites, ragtime, Dixieland, Latin, jazz, big band, Broadway, and Christian music as well as popular songs and standards. Having started with a very limited base, Canadian Brass has created their own musical world by transcribing, arranging, and commissioning more than 600 works, including critically acclaimed compositions from Michael Kamen, Luther Henderson, Bramwell Tovey, Don Gillis and more. They have transformed a previously neglected group of instruments with a limited repertoire into a versatile and vital ensemble that can play everything from Gabrieli to Gershwin! Canadian Brass is especially noted for their famous Holiday Concerts at Christmas time and was at the forefront of re-establishing Scott Joplin with today’s audiences through their research, arrangements and recordings of his “rags” and other works.
Education plays a key role in the story of Canadian Brass and each member is uniquely attuned to training the next generation of players. On their travels around the world, they often pause for masterclasses and are more than happy to work with students and young audiences. Canadian Brass was Chamber Quintet-in-Residence for many years at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California, and has created an innovative brass summer course at the Eastman School of Music. Their support of education is also clearly viewed in their outreach and interaction with El Sistema, the acclaimed global music education program in Venezuela.
In conjunction with the Hal Leonard Corporation, the Canadian Brass have made available their extensive library of brass music for performers of all levels as well as learning tools. Since 1998 Canadian Brass has been a recording artist at Opening Day Entertainment Group (ODEG) (distributed by IDLA) releasing over 25 CDs on the imprint to date. Opening Day is owned and run by Chuck's wife, MB Daellenbach. Canadian Brass sheet music and recordings are available in their online store.
With four decades under their belts, Canadian Brass continues to thrill audiences around the world – and they don’t look like they are letting up anytime soon!
Joe Burgstaller and Mikio Sasaki, trumpets
Jeff Nelsen, horn
Keith Dyrda, trombone
Chuck Daellenbach, tuba
Canadian Brass closes the 41st Spring Festival on Sunday, May 16, 2027 at 4:00 pm at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé.
Official website: canadianbrass.com
Recordings and merchandise: canadianbrassstore.com
Canadian Brass appears by arrangement with Opus 3 Artists.
Zuill Bailey, widely considered one of the premiere cellists in the world, is a Grammy Award winning, internationally renowned soloist, recitalist, Artistic Director and teacher. His rare combination of celebrated artistry, technical wizardry and engaging personality has made him one of the most sought after and active cellists today.
Mr. Bailey has been featured with symphony orchestras and music festivals worldwide. He won the Best Solo Performance Grammy Award in 2017, for his recording of Michael Daugherty’s “Tales of Hemingway,” with the Nashville Symphony led by Giancarlo Guerrero. His extensive discography includes his newest release – the world premier recording of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Cello Concerto with the Santa Rosa Symphony. In 2021 he released his second recording of the Bach Cello Suites for PS Audio’s Octave Records label, recorded and mixed in stereo and multichannel sound.
He appeared in a recurring role on the HBO series “Oz,” and has been heard on NPR’s “Morning Edition,” “Tiny Desk Concert,” “Performance Today,” “Saint Paul Sunday,” BBC’s “In Tune,” XM Radio’s “Live from Studio II,” Sirius Satellite Radio’s “Virtuoso Voices,” and his latest disc of Bach Suites was the disc of the week on Sirius’ Symphony Hall.
Mr. Bailey received his Bachelor’s Degree from the Peabody Conservatory where he was named the 2014 Johns Hopkins University Distinguished Alumni, and received a Master’s Degree from the Juilliard School. He performs on the “rosette” 1693 Matteo Gofriller Cello formerly owned by Mischa Schneider of the Budapest String Quartet.
He is the Artistic Director of El Paso Pro-Musica (Texas), the Sitka Music Festival and Cello Seminar, (Alaska), Juneau Jazz and Classics, (Alaska), the Northwest Bach Festival (Washington), Classical Inside Out Series- Mesa Arts Center (Arizona) and is Director of the Center for Arts Entrepreneurship and Professor of Cello at the University of Texas at El Paso.
The Galvin Cello Quartet explores the limitless range of a cello ensemble by bringing together new works from diverse cultural backgrounds while seeking to establish the cello quartet as a core part of the classical music world.
Praised as a quartet whose “cellists are brilliant instrumentalists and thoughtful musicians individually, but their renditions as a group are glorious,” (Arnold Steinhardt, Guarneri String Quartet) the Galvin Cello Quartet burst onto the scene after capturing the Silver Medal at the 2021 Fischoff Competition. Riding on the momentum of their Fischoff success, Galvin went on to win the 2022 Victor Elmaleh Competition and joined the Concert Artists Guild roster. With members from Brazil, South Korea, and the United States, the Quartet takes its name from the Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall at Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music, where three of its members – Sydney Lee, Haddon Kay, and Luiz Fernando Venturelli – met as students in the studio of acclaimed pedagogue Hans Jørgen Jensen. In June of 2024, the Quartet welcomed James Baik, another former student of Jensen, as their newest member.
With their untamable desire to create, change, and ultimately bring joy through music, the Galvin Cello Quartet is incredibly excited to make the undeniable case that the cello quartet belongs at the center of the expressive lexicon for chamber music alongside other traditional forms. The group's vibrant international spirit reflects its artistic mission to bring together new works from diverse cultural backgrounds and dazzle audiences with the cello’s limitless capabilities. Each a true virtuoso with a distinct voice, the members of the Galvin Cello Quartet are able to authentically occupy a wide array of styles, colors and moods, as well as shifting roles within given arrangements. Recent highlights include performances and educational residencies at Rockport Music Festival, Bravo! Vail, Ravinia, Ascent International Cello Festival, Merkin Hall, and a reappearance at Newport Classical.
The Galvin Cello Quartet is currently represented by Dinin Arts.
Sydney Lee captured First Prize at the 2022 Washington International Competition and Second Prize at the Classic Strings International Competition in Dubai, as well as First Prize at the 10th Antonio Janigro International Cello Competition. She has performed in venues such as the Kennedy Center Palladium Center for the Performing Arts, Pittsburgh Symphony’s Heinz Hall, and Verizon Hall.
Haddon is a top prize winner at the 2024 George Enescu International Cello Competition held in Bucharest, Romania and he was ranked among the top seven at the 2025 Budapest International Cello Competition. Haddon is a newly named member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Bowers Program for the 2027-2030 seasons.
Luiz Fernando Venturelli made his solo debut at the São Paulo Hall at the age of 9 and has since been featured as a soloist with numerous orchestras, including the São Paulo State Symphony, the Goiás Philharmonic, and the Bahia Symphony. He has recently been a prizewinner in the Sphinx Competition, the Samuel and Elinor Thaviu String Competition, and the New York International Artists Association.
James Baik is a First Prize winner of the 2023 Susan Wadsworth Young Concert Artists International Auditions and recipient of the Paul A. Fish Memorial Prize and the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Prize. He is a YCA Jacobs Fellow and has played chamber music at the Ravinia and Bridgehampton Festivals. He studies at the Colburn School under Clive Greensmith.
Jane Monheit
Jazz Vocalist
“Monheit continues to dazzle!” — Downbeat Magazine
Jane Monheit is a jazz and adult contemporary vocalist with a deep passion for the Great American Songbook. With many highly acclaimed solo albums, countless awards and accolades, and over two decades of international touring experience, Jane has not only been an extremely successful bandleader, but has had the privilege of making music with some of the greatest musicians, arrangers, and producers in jazz.
During her childhood, Jane studied woodwinds and piano, spent a decade performing in award winning choirs, and participated in community theater on Long Island. Throughout all of this, her focus remained on jazz, especially interpretation of the Songbook. At the age of 20, during her senior year at the prestigious Manhattan School Of Music, Jane placed second in the Thelonious Monk Competition, now known as the Hancock Competition. This led to an incredible career trajectory, catapulting Jane into the jazz stratosphere nearly overnight.
By 22, Jane was working with legends such as Tommy Flanagan, Ron Carter, and Kenny Barron, recording her first albums, and touring the planet. This led to collaborations with jazz luminaries such as Terence Blanchard, Ivan Lins, Tom Harrell, John Pizzarelli, Christian McBride, Vince Mendoza, Jorge Calandrelli, and many more. Countless television appearances followed, including David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, CBS Sunday Morning, Good Morning America, The Tonight Show, The View, and many popular international talk shows. Several successful film soundtracks have also included Jane’s music, including Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow and Never Let Me Go.
After more than twenty years, twelve studio albums and countless recorded guest appearances, Jane has continued to tour the world nearly nonstop, including playing iconic venues such as Carnegie Hall, The Hollywood Bowl, and headlining at nearly every legendary jazz club on the planet, most notably NY stalwarts such as the Village Vanguard and Birdland. In addition to touring, she also writes English lyrics for Ivan Lins, and uses the knowledge and experience she has gained both at Manhattan School Of Music and on the legendary bandstands of the world to educate and uplift students worldwide. Jane resides in Los Angeles with her husband of over twenty years, drummer Rick Montalbano, and their son.
Ghost Town Blues Band
Blues Dance · May 14
Blues Cruise · May 15
“Not your grandpa’s blues band.”
Memphis’s Ghost Town Blues Band has spent more than 15 years bringing a high-energy, genre-bending show to stages around the world. Led by singer and multi-instrumentalist Matt Isbell, whose homemade cigar box guitars are a band signature, the group mixes Beale Street blues with rock, soul, and funk, and has played more than 175 festivals across the U.S., Canada, and Europe.
Their fifth album, SHINE, debuted at #1 on the Billboard Blues Albums chart, following Backstage Pass, which reached #4. Along the way the band has won a Maple Blues Award (B.B. King International Entertainer of the Year), an Independent Music Award, and a Tennessee Music Award for Best Blues Band, earned five Blues Blast Music Award nominations, and finished runner-up at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis.