Festive Overture : Dmitri Shostakovich
Arrangement by Michael Antrobus
Sugar Blues: Clarence Williams
Arrangement by Alan Morrison
Cornet soloist: Louis Casini
The Magic Trumpet : James F. Burke/Arrangement by Mark Freeh
Bernard Black: Cornet soloist
Georgia On My Mind: Hoagy Carmichael/Arrangement by Fennell
Cornetists: Bernie Black, Drew Fennell, Lou Casini, Joe Perrino, Jeff Nicodemus
An American Civil War Fantasy: Jerry Bilik
Arrangement by William Himes
Napoli: Herman Bellstedt
Lance Laduke: Euphonium soloist
Ol' Man River: Jerome Kern
Gee Whiz: Byron Brooke
Xylophonia: Joe Green/Arrangement by Howard Snell
Carol Nelson: Xylophone soloist
Bring Him Home (Les Miserables): Claude-Michel Schonberg
Arrangement by Keith Wilkinson
Jeff Nicodemus : Soprano cornet:
Instant Concert: Harold Walters
12th Street Rag: Euday Bowman
Cornet trio: Louis Casini, John Defazio, Paul Lennartz
An Irving Berlin Medley
This is the Army, Mr. Jones: Arrangement by James Swearingen
Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning: Arrangement by Joe Campus
God Bless America: Arrangement by Erik Leidzen
Milton Orkin: Baritone soloist
Denis Colwell is Conductor and Music Director of the River City Brass Band. He joined the ensemble in 1982 as a cornetist and was subsequently promoted to assistant principal solo cornet. In 1991 he was named Associate Conductor of the River City Brass Band by its founder Robert Bernat. Colwell assumed all conducting duties in May, 1994 and the responsibilities of Music Director were added six months later.
In addition to his leadership of the River City Brass Band, Colwell is an Associate Professor of Music at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where he is Music Director of the Carnegie Mellon Wind Ensemble. He was Assistant Head of the Department of Music from 1988 to 1995.
A Pittsburgh native, Denis studied trumpet performance both as an undergraduate and graduate student with Carnegie Mellon's renowned trumpet professor, Anthony L. Pasquarelli. For nearly a decade, he was a member of the award winning Carnegie Brass Quintet. Colwell was a founder of the Carnegie Mellon Youth Brass Band and the River City Youth Brass Band and has served as conductor of both ensembles.
At Carnegie Mellon, Colwell produced and hosted the classical music channel programs on US Airways In-Flight Audio Entertainment, heard worldwide on US Airways flights.
Colwell's first CD recording with the University's Wind Ensemble was hailed as "...one of the best band recordings in recent years..." by the American Record Guide (March/April, 1996) and he recently completed the production of a second CD with that ensemble. His recordings with the River City Brass Band include Christmas! (with Robert Page and the Mendelssohn Choir), Big Band Brass , a swinging tribute to the music of the big band era and most recently Heartland , a recording of RCBB commissioned works.
The growth of the RCBB touring schedule has been equally dynamic. Starting from a base in the Mid-Atlantic states, the RCBB has steadily expanded the scope, variety and number of its touring engagements. Currently, the RCBB has one of the most active schedules among American touring ensembles, performing 60 or more concerts on tour each year for a wide variety of auspices ranging from college and community performing arts series to multinational corporate events, major music festivals and symphony pops series. The Band toured overseas tour in 1988 when, together with The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and The Twyla Tharp Dance Company, it represented the United States at the celebration of Australia's Bicentennial. During its month-long tour "down under", the RCBB won rave reviews for its performances at the Adelaide Festival, the Sydney Opera House, Melbourne's Moomba Festival, the Queensland Performing Arts Center in Brisbane, and the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts.
The RCBB's commissioning program has been responsible for the creation of more than a dozen compositions by American and British composers which have received their premieres at RCBB performances. In addition, the Band has performed the American premieres of over twenty brass band works by British composers, including Sir William Walton, William Mathias, Gordon Jacob, Malcolm Arnold, Philip Sparke and Sir Arthur Bliss.
To date the RCBB has released twelve on its own label. The Band's digital recordings, Pittsburgh on Parade, Footlifters, Concert in the Park, Christmas! and Big Band Brass!, are distributed throughout the United States, its territories and Canada by Empire Music Group of New York. RCBB recordings are also distributed on the Polyphonic label throughout the European Economic Community, Australia and New Zealand. RCBB's newest recording, Heartland is a compilation of some of the Band's more notable commissioned works.
River City Brass Band can be heard on public radio stations across the country in an exciting 13 week series of broadcasts. Now in its fourth season of syndication, WQED-FM PRESENTS - RIVER CITY BRASS BAND is produced and syndicated by WQED-FM in Pittsburgh, PA.
This series is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Williams Family Foundation, by a continuing subscription from Hobart and William Smith Colleges, by a grant from the Wyckoff Family Foundation, and by the friends of Geneva Concerts. For additional information contact info@genevaconcerts.org. 
