Bio

East Coast Brass is a chamber ensemble of Tutta Musica Orchestra, a professional orchestra comprised of the teaching artists of Sistema NB. These musicians create entertaining and engaging experiences for audiences and provides high quality musical education to aspiring brass musicians across New Brunswick and beyond. East Coast Brass is based in Moncton, New Brunswick and performs in a variety of settings such as church services, weddings, corporate events, schools and in concert. Performance highlights of East Coast Brass include Moncton’s Capitol Theatre 25 Anniversary Showcase (May 2019), ‘Dancing Through the Ages’ Tour of the Maritimes (6 locations in 2019) and ‘Out of this World’ Tour of the Maritimes (6 locations in 2018). Our style is a mixture of classical, jazz, pop and new compositions and our goal is to make the repertoire meaningful, approachable and fun. Through our work with Sistema NB, the Moncton Youth Orchestra (MYO) and the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra (NBYO), our musical education is focused on serving the at-risk youth of New Brunswick to help them reach their full potential through the learning and performing of orchestral music. The core members of East Coast Brass form a brass quintet: two trumpets Conor Conway (Ottawa, ON), Sarah Devlin (Ottawa, ON); French horn: Jonathan Astley (Lloydminster, AB); trombone: Kimberley Conway (Hammonds Plains, NS) and tuba: Gabrielle Carruthers (Bathurst, NB).

Residency Project

EC and ECB for Climate Justice is a collaborative project of the professional musicians of East Coast Brass and the grade 6 and 7 music students of Edith Cavell to create and present a concert on the theme of climate justice. The highlight of the show is a reinvention of a beloved classic: Saint Saens - Carnival of the Animals, including a world-premiere of a new movement. The students will participate in the creative process of composing a new movement inspired by an animal native to New Brunswick (TBD). We will also rewrite the spoken word narration to better reflect the status of animals in today’s changing climate. To prepare for this concert, the students will be coached by the musicians of ECB as well as their teacher in rehearsals where they will be encouraged to express themselves through their music and also to think critically about climate justice. Through the process of creating this project together, we hope to instill appreciation, respect and a passion for expression through performing music.

Teaching Experience

As teaching artists of Sistema New Brunswick, we help children and youth to achieve their full potential through the learning and performing of orchestral music. We teach at the Sistema NB Moncton Centre 5 days a week, 3 hours a day to approximately 300 students. We also coach more advanced students of the Moncton Youth Orchestra (MYO) and the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra (NBYO). Our core class sizes are an average size of 10 and we also combine into larger groups of 30-40 once or twice a week. We also occasionally conduct and teach the orchestra (approximately 70-90 students).