Brass quintet tries to encourage, inspire students

The San Diego-based brass quintet, Presidio Brass, will visit Las Vegas for the first time to work with school students and give a concert.

The group is scheduled to perform for the public at the Historic Fifth Street School at 7 p.m. Friday.

Today, the group, known for its classical and jazz performances, will give two performances for local band programs from at-risk schools.

The group will also rehearse with the woodwind quintet from the Nevada School of the Arts. Those students are scheduled to perform one number with Presidio Brass during Friday night’s concert.

Formed in 2006 to promote music education, Presidio Brass has become one of the most in-demand brass ensembles, says band spokeswoman Alexis Booher. They do about 40 touring gigs a year.

“Mostly, we wanted to get together so we could play education concerts,” says tuba and piano player Scott Sutherland. “We saw that in California and across the nation, a lot of schools were cutting music programs. We felt there was a need there to get some awareness of the issue and see if we could help expose some students to music.”

The group always volunteers to visit a school when they do a concert in a city, Sutherland says. They try to encourage the students and inspire them. Every member of the group started out in public schools, he says.

The Friday concert, “Sounds of the Cinema,” brings together music that had been written for something else but had been used in the movies, Booher says. Expect to hear music from “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “West Side Story” and other popular movies.

“The concert is appropriate for ages 5 to 95,” Booher says.

Contact reporter Sonya Padgett at spadgett@ reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4564. Follow @StripSonya on Twitter.