BRASS ENSEMBLES

The OCU Brass Ensemble was formed to give university brass players the opportunity to perform together outside of their normal rehearsals in the Symphony Orchestra, Wind Philharmonic and quintets. The goals of this ensemble are to bring brass majors together in a large symphonic brass setting to help them develop and fine-tune the skills that are required to be effective as a brass section in any ensemble and to expose them to the wide variety of repertoire that has been written for large brass groups. The Brass Ensemble is made up of undergraduate and graduate students in the Wanda L. Bass School of Music.

In the fall of 2007, OCU faculty and other friends joined the OCU Brass Ensemble to give its inaugural concert featuring pieces by Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Giovanni Gabrieli and more.

An Evening of Brass and Organ!
Please join us for our next concert on Sunday, November 23, 2008 at 7:30pm. We will be joining University Organist and Wanda L. Bass Chair of Organ, Timothy Olsen, for a performance in the Bishop W. Angie Smith Chapel, on the campus of Oklahoma City University. Come here music by Walton, Gabrieli, Respighi and more!

Benjamin Nilles, Conductor

Benjamin Nilles is currently the Performance Manager/Ensemble Librarian at Oklahoma City University, Assistant Conductor for the Symphony Orchestra, and conductor of the Oklahoma City University Brass Ensemble. Benjamin received his Bachelor of Music degree in Horn Performance from Concordia College in Moorhead, MN, and his Master of Music degree in Conducting from Oklahoma City University. He has studied conducting with Bruce Houglum, Matthew Mailman, Mark Parker, and Mark Belcik. He also participated in the last conducting master class given by Sergiu Comissiona. In addition to having conducted the instrumental ensembles at Concordia College and Oklahoma City University, Benjamin has also conducted the Oklahoma Youth Orchestra, Oklahoma Youth Philharmonic and a studio orchestra for a recording session with country singer Bryan White.