The Brooklyn BRass

 
 

Hailed as a “new music veteran” by New York Magazine, Mike Gurfield has quickly become one of New York City’s most sought after freelance trumpet players.  With appearances ranging from Broadway (on “South Pacific” at Lincoln Center, and “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” at the Schubert Theater) to orchestral concerts (the Knights, New York Symphonic Ensemble, New England Symphonic Ensemble, and guest-principal trumpet of the Harrisburg Symphony, among many others) to indie-Rock (Tyondai Braxton, David Byrne, and Tall Tall Trees) to alt-classical and new music performances with Signal, Alarm Will Sound, Deviant Septet, Mike has appeared live on the radio on Radio Bremen (Germany), KUSC and KKGO in Los Angeles, WXXI in Rochester, WQXR and Q2 in New York, and nationally on NPR.  He has been heard at some of the best concert halls in the world, including Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium and Zenkel Recital Hall, Lincoln Center's Alice Tully, and Avery Fisher Halls, and Vivian Beaumont Theater, London's Barbican, The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, Troy New York's EMPAC, as well as Columbia University's Miller Theater, and NYC experimental art spaces like Le Poisson Rouge, The Kitchen, and Galapagos Art Space.  Mike has appeared in numerous recordings from such labels as Sony Classical, Warner Brothers, Naxos America, New Amsterdam Records, Mode Records, Domino Records, and many more.  The chair of the brass and music theory departments at Manhattan’s Greenwich House Music School, Mike has taught master classes in three countries and at numerous colleges and universities such as the Eastman School of Music, Western Michigan University, Nazareth College, NYU, Duke University, The Banff Centre for the Arts in Alberta, Canada, and Mexico's UAS.

Members


Matt Mead attended the Eastman School of Music, where he studied trumpet with world-renowned trumpeter and pedagogue James Thompson.  In 2004, after receiving his degree in trumpet performance, Matt moved to Culiacan Sinaloa, where he played Principal and Assistant Principal with the Orquesta Sinfonica Sinaloa de las Artes.  In 2009, Matt left Mexico and joined the National Tour of Fiddler on the Roof staring Chaim Topol.  Matt lives in Brooklyn, is an active part of member of the New York music scene, playing everything from Broadway shows like Billy Elliot, to performing with groups such as the Wordless Orchestra, the Brooklyn Brass, and the Harrisburg Symphony.  He has performed and recorded with a variety of groups including the Eastman Wind Ensemble, San Diego Symphony, the Music Academy of the West Orchestra and MAW Faculty brass quartet.

MAtt Mead, Trumpet
Mike Gurfield, Trumpet

Matt Marks is a composer/performer of emotionally manipulative pop songs and acoustic works. A founding member of Alarm Will Sound, he also performs as a French hornist with such acclaimed new music ensembles as the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Signal, and ACME. He has recorded for Warp Records, Nonesuch, Cantaloupe Music, as well as many other independent labels. As a composer and arranger, Matt’s work has been called “staggeringly creative” by The New York Times, “obsessively detailed” by New York Magazine, and “stunning” by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. His works have been performed at Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Lincoln Center, The Barbican Center, The Bang on a Can Marathon, and live on WNYC radio. Matt’s first album, his post-Christian nihilist pop opera, The Little Death: Vol. 1, released on New Amsterdam Records, was described as “cheerily seductive” by the NY Times and “unabashedly boppy, baroquely multireferential, then suddenly sentimental” by Time Out NY. TLDV1 was also one of Time Out NY's Top Ten Classical albums of 2010 and it contained one of Huffington Post's Top Ten Alternative Art Songs of the Decade. 

Other recent projects include The Adventures of Albert Fish, described by Sequenza21.com as “brilliantly simultaneously creepy and funny”; A Portrait of Glenn Beck for the new music ensemble Newspeak; and an arrangement of The Beatles’ Revolution 9 for Alarm Will Sound. Recently Matt has been worked with The Dirty Projectors on a live realization of their opera The Getty Address and on his first string quartet for ETHEL. Matt is also co-director of the BDSM-themed chamber ensemble, Ensemble de Sade, and is an organizer of the annual New Music Bake Sale.


Matt Marks, Horn

Trombonist, Sean Scot Reed has performed in the United States, China, Singapore, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Israel, Thailand, Vietnam, Germany, Austria, France and Italy. He is the former Principal Trombonist of the Thailand Philharmonic, Associate Principal Trombonist of the Israeli Symphony Orchestra, Rishon LeZion, Israel, Principal Trombonist of the Austin Lyric Opera Orchestra, Second Trombonist of the East Texas Symphony Orchestra, Principal Trombonist of the Spoleto, Italy Festival Orchestra. Reed has also performed with the Houston Symphony, Bangkok Symphony, the Siam Philharmonic, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Israeli Chamber Orchestra, the Austin Symphony, Luciano Pavoratti, Placido Domingo, Rene Fleming, Randy Brecker, Kenny Werner, Lenny Picket, Red Rodney, Duffey Jackson, Steve Houghton, Bob Mintzer, Marvin Stamm, Dave Steinmeyer, Doug Flutie, Frankie Vallie, Freddie Cole, Maria Sneider, Bobby McFerrin, Teo Macero, Bob Sneider, Tim Hagan, Alarm Will Sound, the American Wind Symphony, Chautauqua Institution Festival Orchestra, Scotia Festival, Victoria Bach Festival the North Carolina School of the Arts International Music Program, Brass-Arts Bangkok, the Bangkok Brass Quintet and as Lead Trombonist of the Eastman Jazz Ensemble. Recent performances include the International Trombone Festival, the Eastern Trombone Workshop, the Kennedy Center and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Sean Reed is currently the Director of Brass Studies at New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development.

Sean Reed, Trombone

Hailed by Broadway World as "graceful, sensual, and modern" and Prescott News as a "cross between sonorous classicism and adventurous groove and squawk," John Altieri's music has been performed by the Saskatoon Symphony Chamber Orchestra, the California EAR Unit, NOW Ensemble, the Prism Brass Quintet, the Y Trio, the Penfield Commissioning Project, and other musicians and soloists at festivals and venues such as Tanglewood, Aspen, Bowdoin, Bang On A Can at MASS MOCA, S.W.Tuba Conference, Eastman, Mannes, Oberlin, U of Maryland, U of Arizona, HERE Art Center, and the Brooklyn Conservatory to name a few. His 30 minute modern dance work, "My Words Turn to Song in Your Fists", has been produced on two different occasions resulting in sold out runs in New York at the Here Art Center as part of their American Living Room Festival in 2005, and at the Marroney Theatre in Tucson, Arizona in 2002. His orchestration of Carter Little's film score for "The Living Wake" which had its five star premiere at the Cinevegas Film Festival in 2007 was praised by "Variety" magazine, calling the score "ideally captive of the eccentricity." He has twice been featured as an emerging composer with the California EAR Unit's Circuit Breaker's Concerts in 2002 and 2005. Twice a finalist of ASCAP Composer Awards, John's work has been spotlighted on NY radio as part of the Brooklyn Composer's Collective concert held at the Brooklyn Conservatory while his other film scoring for short films "Almost Home" by John Rubin and "Love is Hell" by Dave Dormon have appeared at festivals across the U.S. and abroad. The NY Times recently photographed him as conductor of Missy Mazzoli's new scores for Alice Guy Blache's turn of last century's silent films, claiming the scores to be "engagingly idiosyncratic." He appears as conductor on William Brittelle's "Mohair Time Warp" recorded on the New Amsterdam Records Label. He has conducted the Bolling Air Force Band as an audition finalist in addition to the California EAR Unit, Bang On A Can MassMoca Ensemble, University of Rochester Wind Ensemble, and chamber and orchestral works at Eastman School of Music, Aspen Festival, Bowdoin Festival, HERE Art Center, University of Arizona, BAM Cafe, Issue Project Room, Tonic, Galapagos Art Space, Roulette, and the Renee Weiler Concert Hall among others. As tuba player, John received a coveted Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music for his adventurous and virtuosic solo tuba performances and has since gone on to perform solo, chamber, and orchestral music in Japan, Europe, Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. Of note, Huis Ten-Bosch Quintet (Nagasaki, Japan), Alarm Will Sound, Tucson Brassworks, Bang On A Can Marathon and Mass Moca, and carries the honor of being the first ever tuba soloist at the Bowdoin Festival in summer 2002 since its inception in 1975. As teacher, John has taught at Hunter College, University of Arizona, Mannes Prep, Juilliard Prep, Williamsville East H.S., French Road E.S., Tucson Unified School District, Brooklyn Steppers, Meyer Levin School of Performing Arts, and the Academy for College Prep/ Erasmus High School. John was also the American Composers Orchestra Director of Education for the 07-08 season. He holds a B.M. from the Eastman School of Music and an M.M. from the University of Arizona. He has studied composition with Sydney Hodkinson, Samuel Adler, Dan Asia, and Dan Coleman; conducting with Brad Lubman, and tuba with Don Harry and Cherry Beauregard.

John Altieri, Tuba