Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra will present its first concert this season’s Salon Series — Holiday Brass Quintet, featuring traditional holiday favorites — on December 2 at 7PM at The Allen Center (35 Webster Street, West Newton). Tickets are $30 (seniors $25, students $15).
The Salon Series is Pro Arte’s chamber music concert series. Each performance features a select handful of musicians from Pro Arte’s cooperative along with occasional guest artists to present musical gems not featured in the full orchestral Ensemble Series.
“The holiday season is a time that brass players look forward to every year,” said Pro Arte’s principal horn player, Robert Marlatt. “So much great music has been written over the centuries that put the sound of trumpets and horns out front for all to hear.” This year’s concert will include music by Handel and Bach, along with traditional carols and more familiar popular Christmas songs.
“This is a relatively new holiday tradition for Pro Arte, which we started as an online concert during the pandemic. We are thrilled that we’ve continued to do it annually ever since live and in person,” declared Marlatt.
About the Quintet
Dana Russian started performing in Boston in 1979. He is the principal trumpet of the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra and a member of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra. He also performed with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, Boston Lyric Opera Orchestra, and Boston Ballet Orchestra, as well as the Portland Symphony and Rhode Island Philharmonic. He was active as a soloist and chamber music specialist in Boston for 35 years.
Joseph Foley is principal trumpet of the Rhode Island Philharmonic, the Portland Symphony Orchestra, and the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra of Houston, Texas. He has toured with the Boston Symphony, the Boston Pops, the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Ballet of London, and the New York Philharmonic. He is Professor of Trumpet at Rhode Island College and on the Trumpet Faculty at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee.
Robert Marlatt is principal horn of Pro Arte and a prominent freelance musician in the Boston area. Mr. Marlatt has also performed as principal horn with the Boston Ballet Orchestra, Opera Company of Boston, Opera New England, and Boston Musica Viva, to name a few. In addition, he appeared with the Boston Philharmonic, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, Boston Lyric Opera, and numerous other ensembles throughout New England.
Trombone player, Hans Bohn, is a member of the Boston Ballet Orchestra, Boston Lyric Opera, Handel and Haydn Society, Emmanuel Music and the new music ensemble, Boston Modern Orchestra Project. Hans performs regularly with the Boston Pops and the Esplanade Pops orchestra and can be heard on several Boston Pops recordings.
Mike W. Roylance is the principal tuba of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which he joined in 2003. Previously, Roylance performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, and Seattle Symphony. He is also on the faculties at Boston University and New England Conservatory of Music as well as Tanglewood Music Center.
