Mark Your Calendars for Saturday, February 1, 2025

Tromblowin 2024 with Brittany Lasch

90 Trombonists already registeredOn Saturday, January 27, 2024 we welcomed Brittany Lasch as our featured guest artist. |A winner of the S&R Foundation Washington Award, Trombonist Brittany Lasch has appeared as a soloist with ensembles such as the U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own,” the Rodney Marsalis Philadelphia Big Brass and with symphonies around the country. With playing described as “masterful” (Syracuse Post-Standard), American Record Guide recently hailed Brittany as an “excellent soloist.” Brittany is the newly appointed Assistant Professor of Trombone at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. She also performs as Principal Trombone of the Detroit Opera Orchestra at the Detroit Opera House.

Saturday, January 27 at JMU

(All Workshop events are held in JMU’s Forbes Center for the Performing Arts room 1115, the JMU School of Music Building and Forbes Center Concert Hall)

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

  • 8:30 a.m. Registration and Sales Tables Open 
  • 9:30 – 10:45 a.m. Group Warmups & Sight-reading Session featuring original compositions for trombone ensemble by Madeline Lee — with James Martin45 minutes
  • 11 – 11:45 Mass Trombone Choir rehearsal conducted by Dr. Andrew Lankford
  • 11:45 a.m. – 12:45 p.m. BREAK FOR LUNCH
  • 1:00 – 2:00  Brittany Lasch Workshop  
  • 2:15 – 3:00 p.m. “Sacqueboutes Souffler Dedans”  – Sackbut lecture and music reading demonstration with Dr. Mike Hall and a sackbut ensemble from ODU. Sponsored in part by Bach Trombones
  • 3:20– 4:30 p.m. Jazz Improvisation with Matt Niess  playalong with live rhythm section
  • 5 – 6:30 p.m. Dinner Break (on your own)
  • 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. Grand Concert Free and open to the public
    • JMU Trombone Choir, directed by Dr. Andy Lankford
    • Brittany Lasch
    • Mr. Jefferson’s Bones  
    • Matt Niess
    • Mass Trombone Choir finale

Every participant gets a Tromblow’in T-shirt!

A World-Class Venue

Experience JMU’s Forbes Center for the Performing Arts as a student and a performer! You’ll spend the day in the largest rehearsal hall on the main floor of the Forbes Center, room 1115. Then we move upstairs to the state-of-the-art Forbes Concert Hall, where (and your friends and family) will have great seats for the featured performances. Then you’ll take the stage as we finish the Grand Concert with our 80+ member Mass Trombone Choir.

A winner of the S&R Foundation Washington Award, Trombonist Brittany Lasch has appeared as a soloist with ensembles such as the U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own,” the Rodney Marsalis Philadelphia Big Brass and with symphonies around the country. With playing described as “masterful” (Syracuse Post-Standard), American Record Guide recently hailed Brittany as an “excellent soloist.” Brittany is the newly appointed Assistant Professor of Trombone at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. She also performs as Principal Trombone of the Detroit Opera Orchestra at the Detroit Opera House.

Brittany Lasch​Brittany has been a featured guest artist at numerous festivals including the International Trombone Festival, the International Women’s Brass Conference, and the American Trombone Workshop. She was a winner of Astral Artist’s National Auditions as well as the winner of the National Collegiate Solo Competition hosted by the U.S. Army Band, the Eisenberg-Fried Brass Concerto Competition at the Manhattan School of Music, and she was the recipient of the Zulalian Foundation Award in Boston. Her trombone quartet Boston Based won the 2017 International Trombone Association’s Quartet Competition. In 2018, Brittany was awarded 2nd place in The American Prize solo instrumentalist competition. A prizewinner in numerous other competitions, she received the coveted John Clark Award upon graduation from the Manhattan School of Music for outstanding accomplishment in Brass Performance.

Brittany has performed with orchestras nationwide, including the St. Louis Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Nashville Symphony, The Florida Orchestra, Toledo Symphony Orchestra, ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, Rhode Island Philharmonic, the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra, the Vermont Symphony, Albany Symphony, Symphoria, and the New World Symphony in Miami Beach. She participated in the Verbier Festival Orchestra for two summers and has also appeared at the Spoleto USA Festival, Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, the Castleton Festival, the National Repertory Orchestra, and the Aspen Music Festival. She has been a participant in the prestigious Alessi Trombone Seminar in Fossano, Italy, and in the Summer Trombone Workshop at Temple University.

As an advocate for new music, Brittany has commissioned and performed several new pieces for the trombone. She gave the premiere of the orchestrated version of Martin Kennedy’s Theme and Variations for Trombone and Orchestra with the BGSU Philharmonia under the direction of Dr. Emily Brown. She also recorded the work with the BGSU Philharmonia, which was recently released on the Albany Records label to acclaim. The recent premiere performance of a consortium-commissioned work by composer Inez McComas can be viewed here. Brittany and hornist Andrew Pelletier gave the world premiere of a double concerto by Adam Har-zvi with Wind Symphony in November of 2022 at BGSU as part of the BGSU Honor Band Festival. Brittany, along with frequent collaborator and Curtis faculty member Thomas Weaver, recently premiered her latest commission, a Sonata for Trombone and Piano by Reena Esmail. Thomas and Brittany recently finished recording a new solo album titled Dark Horse featuring works by Samuel Adler, Tony Plog, Thomas Weaver, Reena Esmail, and Shawn Davern, which will be released in late 2023. 

A native of Park Ridge, Illinois, Brittany Lasch earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Boston University, where she received the Brass Department Award. She also holds a Master of Music degree from Yale School of Music. With a deep commitment to education, she has previously served as faculty at the College of Musical Arts at Bowling Green State University and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. She has also been a featured teacher and performer at events such as the DC Trombone Workshop, the Arkansas Trombone Day, and the UW Whitewater Trombone Day. Recent residencies include Stetson University, the University of Florida, and as the guest artist at the 2023 Frühling Posaunen hosted at Ithaca College. She has presented masterclasses at universities across the country and internationally. Her principal teachers include Toby Oft, Scott Hartman, and Steve Norrell.

Brittany Lasch is an Edwards Trombone Performing Artist. Brittany also proudly uses and endorses ChopSaver Lip Care. Outside of music, Brittany has recently completed her ninth full marathon and loves spending time with her trombone-loving cats, Fudge and Clove.

Win a pBone or pBone Mini at Tromblow’in

Thanks to the generosity of our corporate sponsor, Warwick Music Group, we will have a pBone Mini to raffle! The pBone Mini is a smaller version of the original pBone and is basically an E-flat Alto Trombone (but light as a feather!). Raffle tickets are $2 each, 3 for $5 or $10 for an arm’s length. The drawing held during the afternoon of Tromblow’in. Raffle proceeds help offset expenses of our Tromblow’in Workshop.

You could win a pBone Mini at Tromblowin

JMU’s Forbes Center for the Performing Arts

All events for Tromblow’in are bring held at JMU’s Forbes Center for the Performing Arts. For specific driving directions, please click on the green-color “Forbes Center” marker in the map below. The street address for the Forbes Center is 147 Warsaw Ave. or 871 S. Main St., Harrisonburg, VA 22807. Parking in the Warsaw Parking Deck is free, and on Saturdays you can park in any spaces (including staff/faculty) with no special permits required.

Tromblow’in 2023 Photo Gallery

Enjoy these images shot by award-winning music photographer, Bob Adamek

A Tradition of Excellence

Since 2008, Tromblow’in has attracted a world-class faculty of professional trombonists.