Tromba Mundi is making a little detour to perform in Durango.
The six high-powered trumpet players who make up the ensemble accepted a last-minute invitation from Joe Nibley and will perform on Tuesday.
“I’ve been wanting to bring in at least a few of these guys, if not the whole group, since I got the job here at Fort Lewis College,” said Joe Nibley, assistant professor of music at FLC. “So, when the opportunity arose to piggy-back on an event they’re doing at UNM, I jumped on it. To say I’m excited to have them here is an understatement.”
Tromba Mundi is a trumpet sextet with recordings, touring and teaching schedules that are tight. The group will be the featured ensemble at the University of New Mexico’s annual Trumpet Week, Feb. 27-March 5. Originally scheduled to cap the 2020 celebration, Tromba Mundi and Trumpet Week were sidelined by COVID-19. The UNM festival has been rescheduled and Tromba Mundi will give master classes as well as a concert on March 5 in Albuquerque.
But Nibley’s invitation for a detour to Durango sounded good, and the six trumpet virtuosos agreed to give a recital followed by a day of lessons and classes here before returning to Albuquerque.
If you go
WHAT: Tromba Mundi, a trumpet sextet, performing contemporary music.
WHEN: 7 p.m. Tuesday.
WHERE: Roshong Recital Hall, Fort Lewis College, 1000 Rim Drive.
TICKETS: $15 adults; free for those 18 and younger and FLC students. Tickets available at the door.
“Their concert here in Durango comes first, Tuesday evening, March 1,” Nibley said. “The next day, the guys will work with conducting students in a 10 a.m. class and then the FLC Brass Studio. They’ll give private lessons throughout the day, and they will coach the FLC Brass Ensemble. If community members are interested, contact me at janibley@fortlewis.edu for more information.”
Founded in 2007, Tromba Mundi is made up largely of professional trumpet players who are also college and university professors. They explicitly explore, promote and perform new works for trumpet ensembles. Check out their website, www.trombamundi.org, for a description of the members and recordings. The first, Music for Trumpet Ensemble, came out in 2008. “Sinfonia Americana” was released in 2013, and the most recent, “The Non-Articulation Agreement,” came out in 2021.
Selections from Tromba Mundi recordings will be performed Tuesday. Let’s hope we hear fresh arrangements of classics like “Laissez le Bon Temps Rouler,” “Bugler’s Holliday” and maybe a tribute to Harry James from “Home James.”
At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, the FLC Jazz Festival Concert follows, in the Community Concert Hall. This is the concert that folds in selected middle and high school bands all day and for the evening concert, which is a ticketed event.
To wrap up a big musical week at the college, at 3 p.m. March 6 in Roshong Recital Hall, a select group of music majors will perform. Sponsored by Walter Dear, a retired journalist and community activist with piano hands, the annual honors recital is a showcase for dedicated and talented FLC students. It’s free.
Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.
