Performer Details
Performer Bio Synopsis
In the tradition of the highest artistic levels of brass playing, Monarch Brass was founded by Susan Slaughter, retired principal trumpet of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. This musical ‘dream team’ has and continues to represent the very best women brass soloists, orchestral, and premiere military band players throughout North America and Europe. Impressed by the wealth of prominent women brass artists assembled at the first International Women’s Brass Conference (IWBC) held at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri in 1993, Susan’s idea for The Monarch Brass took root. Her goal was to give larger prominence and visibility to accomplished women brass players to audiences in a field that has been historically dominated by men.
In 1996, as Susan was deciding on a name for the newly formed group, a monarch butterfly suddenly appeared. Inspired by the resilience, strength, and beauty of this creature, Susan’s inspiration for the name ‘Monarch Brass’ came into being as a way to describe the women brass players who are members of this ensemble. Monarch’s vision has always been to display the special power, strength, musicality and lyrical sound distinctive of the brass instruments. They have accomplished this through performing traditional, unusual, fresh, and familiar repertoire composed for, and well-suited to brass.
An important initiative to the mission of the IWBC is to commission works written for brass, and in particular by women composers. Works commissioned for and premiered by Monarch include The Four Winds, Opposable Thumbs, and Throw Caution to the Wind by Carolyn Bremer; Fanfare for Annie O by Jon Deak; Reincarnation and Dance by Alice Gomez; Origenes by Tania Leon; Brazen Overture and Brass Flight by Libby Larsen; Dialogue Continued by Faye-Ellen Silverman; Towards Light by Stella Sung; Fete by Augusta Read Thomas; The Face of Water by Marilyn Strude; and JB Montage by Amy Williams. In 1993, Celebration Fanfare by Joan Tower, written for the IWBC, was performed by an all-female brass ensemble at the White House in Washington, D.C. in conjunction with an event held by the International Women’s Forum (IWF). This performance was given as an appreciation to the IWF and Kerr Foundation’s sponsorship of the 1993 IWBC Composition Contest awards. Though the group that performed was not officially Monarch Brass, the performance was another element that helped pave the way for the group’s eventual formation.
Following the 2000 IWBC Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio, Monarch recorded their first CD, which was then released in 2003. The diverse repertoire represented on the recording includes commissions, transcriptions, and original works: O Jesu Christ, Mein’s Lebens Licht Chorale from Cantata 118 by J.S. Bach; Four Winds and Opposable Thumbs by Carolyn Bremer; Out from Under by Michael D’Ambrosio; Fanfare for a Celebration by Mary Judge; Brazen Overture by Libby Larsen; Celebration: From Stepping Stones by Joan Tower; Gathering of the Armies on the River Scheldt from Lohengrin by Richard Wagner; and Symphony for Brass and Percussion by Alfred Reed.
Monarch performances have been led by the musical vision of many of today’s leading women musicians and conductors. Those who have occupied the podium of Monarch include Marin Alsop, Heather Buchman, Victoria Bond, Apo Hsu, Michelle Rakers, Elizabeth Schultze, Marie Speziale and Mallory Thompson. Monarch’s inaugural tour occurred in 1996 with performances and educational outreach initiatives in Oklahoma, Michigan and Kansas. Besides performing at every IWBC Conference since 1997, other appearances include a tour to Italy in 1999; at The National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington D.C. in 2000; the International Trumpet Guild Conferences in Glassboro, New Jersey in 2006 and in Columbus, Ohio in 2015; and the International Trombone Festival 2016 in New York, New York. Monarch Brass is honored to perform in December 2016 at the invitation of The Midwest Clinic 70th Anniversary in Chicago, Illinois.
Because the members of Monarch have musical careers in many different places, all come and convene for a few days of intense rehearsals before each performance. The group has garnered a reputation for world class musical excellence not only in the brass world, but larger musical community. An atmosphere of professionalism, dedication, mutual respect, inclusiveness, friendship and a sheer joy of performing with each other infuses the group’s work and performances each time they come together. As Susan Slaughter describes it, “When with Monarch, it’s like being in Heaven. Everyone wants everyone else to succeed. That’s why we excel—we ‘feed’ off of the support for each other.”
Monarch Brass
Conductor's Bio
Mallory Thompson is director of bands, professor of music, coordinator of the conducting program, and holds the John W. Beattie Chair of Music at Northwestern University. In 2003 she was named a Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence. As the third person in the university's history to hold the director of bands position, Dr. Thompson conducts the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, teaches undergraduate and graduate conducting, and administers all aspects of the band program. Thompson has recorded four albums with the Northwestern University Symphonic Wind Ensemble on the Summit Records label.
Dr. Thompson received the Bachelor of Music Education degree and Master of Music degree in conducting from Northwestern University, where she studied conducting with John P. Paynter and trumpet with Vincent Cichowicz. She received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Donald Hunsberger.
Dr. Thompson maintains an active schedule as guest conductor, conducting teacher, and guest lecturer throughout the United States and Canada. She has taught conducting to hundreds of undergraduate students, graduate students, and professional educators. Dr. Thompson has served as a conductor or clinician at the College Band Directors National Association regional and national conventions, the Midwest Clinic, the Interlochen Arts Academy, numerous state music conventions, and the Aspen Music Festival. In addition to conducting all-state ensembles throughout the United States, she has had professional engagements as guest conductor with the United States Air Force Band, the United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own,” the United States Army Field Band, the United States Coast Guard Band, the United States Navy Band, the West Point Band, the Dallas Wind Symphony, Symphony Silicon Valley, the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings, Monarch Brass, and Banda Sinfônica in Sao Pãulo, Brazil. Her professional affiliations include Pi Kappa Lambda, the College Band Directors National Association, and the American Bandmasters Association.
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