By Laurie D. Willis
Livingstone College News Service
If you enjoy brass ensembles and want to hear some good music, be sure to attend a free concert featuring The David Silden Brass Ensemble on Thursday in Varick Auditorium.
Being hosted by Livingstone College Music Instructor David Palmer, the concert begins at 7 p.m. and is expected to last 90 minutes. It will include works by Giovanni Gabrieli, Alfred Reed, Lennie Niehaus and others.
According to its Web site, The David Silden Brass Ensemble is an informal group of professional and amateur brass musicians from the Charlotte metropolitan area. It includes trumpets, French horns, trombones, euphoniums and tubas.
Palmer, who has worked at Livingstone College for three years and says music is his passion, said he invited the brass ensemble to perform at the institution because of its top-notch reputation.
“This was something I wanted to do to help promote the music department at Livingstone College,” said Palmer, who teaches applied brass. “I’ve sent flyers to area high schools about the concert. Hopefully it will be a big recruiting tool for the college.”
Livingstone college student Justin Carter and Catawba College student Brent Messenger, both percussionists, will perform with the ensemble. So will Palmer.
“I’m really excited about the concert,” said Palmer, who has a bachelor’s of music and a master’s of music from Appalachian State University and has also taken some graduate courses in music performance at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Palmer, a tuba player, began teaching at the collegiate level in 2000 and has taught at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Pfeiffer University and Forsyth Technical Community College.
For the past 15 years he has worked as a private instructor and freelance performer in central and western North Carolina. He also works with some local high schools and performs at churches and special events.
Palmer has performed with UNC Greensboro’s orchestra at The Kennedy Center. He has also performed with the Winston-Salem and Greensboro symphonies, The Hickory Choral Society and The Charlotte Philharmonic Orchestra. In fact, in 2004 he was featured in a PBS broadcast of The Charlotte Philharmonic Orchestra, along with professional banjo player Buddy Wachter.