River City Brass wraps 40th-anniversary season with spring programs

River City Brass will wrap up its 40th-anniversary season with a series of spring concerts in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties.

“This will be the end of a season post-pandemic with all concerts live and in-person,” said artistic and general director James Gourlay, who also conducts the ensemble.

March will mark the return of RCB’s “Celtic Connections” concerts, which combine the music of Ireland, Scotland and Wales with country, bluegrass and swing — underscoring the close connections among these musical forms.

The band will be joined onstage by world-champion piper Andrew Carlisle, an award-winning piper and artist lecturer in bagpipe at Carnegie Mellon University, and the Carnegie Mellon Pipes and Drums.

“Celtic Connections” will be performed March 3 at Linton Middle School in Penn Hills, March 4 at Carson Middle School in McCandless, March 5 at The Palace Theatre in Greensburg, March 10 at Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland and March 22 at Bethel Park High School.

In April, the band will look forward and backward simultaneously with “Brass to the Future,” an eclectic program of fan requests, both favorites from previous concerts and tunes they’ve always wanted RCB to play. Fans have been able to submit song requests via the RCB website.

The April concerts also will feature the debut of two of the four finalists from the first-ever River City Brass Composers Competition, which has garnered more than 60 submissions from an international pool of composers.

“Brass to the Future” is scheduled for April 1 at Carson Middle School, April 2 at The Palace Theatre, April 5 at Bethel Park High School, April 6 at Linton Middle School and April 7 at Carnegie Music Hall.

“It will be a little bit of a look back to the repertoire we’ve played since 1981,” Gourlay said. “As we look to the future, we need new music, and that’s why we’ve initiated a composers competition for brass band.”

The May program will be called “Resilience,” celebrating RCB’s 40-year history and the return to in-person concerts after pandemic shutdowns forced all-digital performances during the previous season.

“I think a brass band that’s been in existence since 1981 shows resilience right there,” Gourlay said.

Two more finalists in the composers’ competition also will be introduced and the winner will be crowned.

“Resilience” will be presented May 5 at Linton Middle School, May 6 at Carson Middle School, May 7 at The Palace Theatre, May 10 at Bethel Park High School and May 12 at Carnegie Music Hall.

All spring concerts will begin at 7:30 p.m. Ticket prices vary by location.

For more information and tickets, call 412-434-7222 or visit rivercitybrass.org.