February 17, 2009 - Winter and Spring News

This coming Spring is showing sings of business, we already have a booked cocktail in March, a wedding and a concert in May as well as two prom nights in June.

We'll start by doing our share to support our canadian troops morally. A wine and cheese venue will take place on March 14^th at the Longue-Pointe Garrison in Montreal for the new troops leaving for Afghanistan in April and their families.

A wedding is scheduled for May 16^th, which will be the first gig that Denis will miss on tuba, him being on a trip to Croatia at that time. The Cercle Philharmonique de Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu annual spring concert with Brass Kamarades as guests will take place at the St-Jean Garrison's Chapel on May 30^th.

Spring will end flamboyantly with Verdun's École Secondaire Mgr Richard prom night on June 19^th, followed by St-Jean's École Secondaire Beaulieu on June 23^rd.

November 8, 2008 - Studio session

We were to be part of the string ensemble "Les Goûts Réunis" first album. The recording session took place at the Studio Red Tube.

We accompanied the ensemble for the recording of the Cantata 147 from J.S. Bach. This piece was often performed by both groups during joint concerts and Christian Poupart, the ensemble's conductor wanted to have us as guests performers for their first album soon to be released. A few photos will follow shortly.

September 13, 2008 - New Photos

As promised in last week's news, long and recently received pictures were added to our picture gallery.

These are new photos for last winter's Café-Concert and also for Karine and Yan's wedding that we did a few years back. She will finaly be able to see them. Due to lack of spare time, I was not able to put them on line befor now.

September 7, 2008 - Web Site's New Look

Hey, I worked hard to give the site a whole new look. I reworked the styles to remove the menu buttons and give it a 3D look and feel and also to add sub menu items, I did the same for the titles... I also added the bookmark button on the french pages, even though it's only available in english.

There are new photos on the way for last winter's Café-Concert and also for Karine Girard's wedding that we did a few years back, so stay tuned.

June 12^th 2008 - Mgr Richard's Prom Night

On June 21st, Brass Kamarades will have to break with tradidion and will have to follow the graduating students of the Polyvalente Mgr Richard to the Marriot Château Champlain to celebrate...Hoping we will be allowed a great meal anyway...

April 19^th 2008 - Colloque Femmes et Développement Local

Brass Kamarades played thursday jeudi April 17^th at the Relais Gouverneurs Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu fotr the "Colloque Femmes et Développement Local" organizedby the Centre Local de Développement (CLD) du Haut-Richelieu.

March 10^th 2008 - 25^th of Fondation Santé

Brass Kamarades celebrated with the volunteers of the Fondation Santé for its 25^th anniversary and even added the luxury of having a percussionist to enliven the evening. To do that, we asked Claude Roy, a solid percussionist from the area and music teacher at the École Secondaire Beaulieu. He added his personal touch to make the event an unforgetable one for the guests.

This anniversary event took place at the Pacini Restaurant of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu and our hosts Luc and Pascal were very tuned to their guests' needs as usual, which makes their restaurant one of the best, if not the best success story of the franchise.

You can look at the newly added pictures here... and a nice appreciation letter form the executive of the Fondation

February 6^th 2008 - Brass Kamarades rocks the house

Brass Kamarades, which waited 7 years instead of 6 as mentionned earlier came to the Café Concert that took place last january 20^th with a firm intention of having fun on the stage and that's just what happened.

The concert hall which can seat 115 people was filled with 140 and many of them took turn to give everybody a chance to sit down for a while. The morning program had a good variety of pieces that was unanimously adequate. The ambiance and the chemistry between the audience and the musicians set the mood early in the concert. Claude was himself with his usual humor that got the public's attention, even if he was the only one who did not have any presentation to make ; Michel was on fire with his usual extras (inside joke...) ; Guylaine showed us that she was as much at ease talking to the audience than playing her trumpet; Denis Bellemare was again the one that spoke the most (he must be compensating for something...) and I introduced only 2 pieces, leaving all the work to the young and eager.

There was a lot of known faces in the audience and many came to congratulate us after our performance. There was even a few regulars that flattered us by telling us that we were the best group they had heard so far at this concert series.

Here's a positive comment posted on the blog of Denis Roy that attended our concert :

So yesterday, I took the opportunity to attend the concert of the « Brass Kamarades » brass quintet that was playing at the St-Luc sector's library where I spent a delicious moment.

(Free translation by Denis Desnoyers)