For the 9th Edition of the International Albanian Brass Festival two of Australia’s greatest musicians, Joel Brennan and Ken Murray, will present works by composers from Albania, Australia and Kosovo. There are two recitals, one in Tirana (May 29) and the other in Pristina (May 30). HAMMERINGS RECORDS is proud to be associated with the IABF under the direction of Ilir Kodhima.
Joel Brennan – Trumpet (Australia)
Joel Brennan
Joel Brennan enjoys a diverse career as a performer and teacher. He has performed with orchestras around the globe, including the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (Australia), Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra (Korea), Rotterdam Philharmonic (Netherlands), Winnipeg Symphony (Canada), Malaysian Philharmonic, and Bilkent Symphony Orchestra (Turkey), and has served as principal trumpet of the Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra (Japan) and Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra (Netherlands). A proponent of contemporary music and chamber music, Joel has commissioned and premiered dozens of new works, with a particular emphasis on working with emerging composers and those from underrepresented demographics. He is a member of Ensemble Three, a unique trio of trumpet, trombone, and guitar which has been praised as “an inspiring example of forward-thinking classical music culture” and won the 2017 Melbourne Recital Centre Contemporary Masters Award. He is also a member of Lyrebird Brass, a collective of players dedicated to performing the finest brass chamber music. Joel received his bachelor’s degree from Oberlin Conservatory of Music before pursuing graduate studies at the Yale School of Music from which he is a recipient of the Doctor of Musical Arts degree. Awarded a Fulbright Grant 2007, Joel spent a year performing, teaching, and studying in the Netherlands. Deeply devoted to education, Joel is Associate Professor of Music Performance at Melbourne Conservatorium of Music (University of Melbourne, Australia). He has also served on the faculty of Brandon University (Canada) and the Juilliard School’s campus in Tianjin (China) where he worked with students in the pre-college program and graduate school in addition to performing with the Tianjin Juilliard Ensemble. He has been a guest teaching artist at the Australasian Trumpet Academy, Danish/German Brass Academy, and Oberlin Trumpet Workshop. He is the creator of “Poper’s Game,” a unique practice app for trumpet players. Joel is a Yamaha Performing Artist.
Ken Murray – Guitar (Australia)
Ken Murray
Ken Murray has forged a distinctive career as a guitarist, blending elements of performance, composition, teaching, and research. His focus encompasses a dedication to showcasing and recording Spanish music from the early 20th century, collaborating extensively with contemporary composers, and actively engaging in the performance of Brazilian and South American musical genres. In his role as a composer, Murray has crafted a diverse array of compositions for solo guitar and ensemble settings. Demonstrating a dedication to contemporary music, he has participated in premiere performances of over 100 works, collaborating with composers such as Stephen Goss, Dai Fujikura, Leilehua Lanzilotti, Christopher Sainsbury, Katy Abbott, Stuart Greenbaum, and Melody Eötvös. His enduring partnerships involve ongoing collaborations with composers who have created pieces across various genres, including solo guitar, electric guitar and CD, electric guitar and ensemble, guitar and voice, large chamber works, and music theatre compositions featuring the guitar. Murray’s performances and recordings have received recognition on platforms such as ABC FM and international labels like Kairos (Italy), Mode Records (USA), Move, Tall Poppies, and ABC Classics. Murray’s compositions have been performed by guitarists such as Slava Grigoryan, Alex Tsiboulski, Vladimir Gorbach, Tengyue Zhang and Ziggy and Miles Johnston. Guitar ensembles including the Riverside Guitar Ensemble directed by Karin Schaupp have performed his music. Ken’s solo piece Free Range was selected as the set work for the Adelaide Guitar Festival competition in 2020. His pieces are represented in the Australian Music Examinations Board syllabus and his music has been performed in Europe, Asia and throughout Australia. Murray is an integral part of Ensemble Three, alongside Joel Brennan (trumpet) and Don Immel (trombone). Their performances, both in Australia and abroad, reflect a commitment to commissioning new works and contribute to an expanding catalogue of recordings. Ensemble Three has established itself as “an inspiring example of forward-thinking classical music culture in Australia” (CutCommon).
Alan Holley – Composer (Australia)
Composer Alan Holley
In recent years Sydney born composer Alan Holley (b.1954) has been a featured composer at numerous music festivals and received composer profile concerts in Croatia, Serbia, Albania and Australia. The trumpet concerto Doppler’s Web (2005) written for soloist Paul Goodchild, A Line of Stars (2007) and A Shaft of Light (2015) for oboe and orchestra with Shefali Pryor as soloist were commissioned and performed in the Concert Hall of the Opera House by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Loaded with Dream (2011) was commissioned by the Sydney Symphony for performance by the Fellows. In 2018 And the rain received numerous performances by the Australian Chamber Choir in Victoria and Sydney. This choir then commissioned and performed Time Passages in Australia, Denmark, Germany, Belgium and England on their 2019 tours. Three major chamber works were premiered in Melbourne in 2022 – Lyrebird Brass premiered his Goodchild Canzonas, a brass quintet, in the Hanson Dyer Hall and the Melbourne Recital Centre (MRC), Ensemble Three premiered All Demons Run for trumpet, trombone and electric guitar in the MRC, and In Fire Season, a trio composed during the horrendous bushfires in Australia in 2020 was premiered by Johanna Selleck, alto flute, Peter Sheridan, bass flute and Danae Killian, piano.
His works are now published by Kookaburra Music and recorded on HAMMERINGS RECORDS.