OLYMPIC BRASS was founded to provide audiences with the best of brass chamber music. Composed of five of the most accomplished musicians in Northeast Ohio, OLYMPIC BRASS is Brass at its Peak!

The ensemble is a traditional brass quintet with two trumpets, horn, trombone and tuba, with a repertoire spanning five centuries and a wide variety of styles. In addition, OLYMPIC BRASS is a flexible ensemble with a wide palette of instruments and colors available. Email us at olympicmusic@gmail.com for bookings, brochures and sound samples!

 

Greg Bassett (horn, alto horn, alto trumpet) currently holds positions with the Cleveland Opera Orchestra, Erie Philharmonic, and Mansfield Symphony, and is active in other area musical ensembles and as a horn teacher. He has played with groups such as the Akron Symphony, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Blossom Festival Orchestra, Cleveland POPS, and the Duluth-Superior Symphony Orchestra. Greg is also the conductor of the Chagrin Valley Chamber Orchestra and the Fairview Park Community Band, has taught at Case Western Reserve University, and coaches at Laurel School. He holds degrees from New England Conservatory and Swarthmore College. 

 

 

Amanda Kriska Bekeny (trumpets, cornet, flugelhorn) graduated with a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Trumpet Performance from The Ohio State University in December, 2005 and holds degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the College of Wooster. In addition, she participated in post-Doctoral studies at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Amanda teaches Trumpet at Ashland University and has taught at Ohio Wesleyan University, Edgewood College, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, Wooster Music Camp, and the University of Wisconsin Summer Music Clinic. Amanda is a member of RED {an orchestra}, the Ashland Symphony Orchestra, and the Olympic Brass Quintet, and is a former member of the Wisconsin Brass Quintet, Ohio Light Opera Orchestra, and Ohio State Faculty Chamber Orchestra. Amanda has also performed with the Kent-Blossom Chamber Orchestra, Mansfield Symphony, Canton Symphony, Metropolitan Brass Quintet, Madison Symphony, Madison Opera Orchestra, and Columbus Bach Ensemble

 

 

Stephen Chapdelaine (trumpets, cornet, flugelhorn) is an active freelancer in the Cleveland area, playing with such groups as The Cleveland Orchestra, Cleveland Pops, the Blossom Festival Band and Orchestra, the symphonies of Akron and Canton, as well as with The Buffalo Philharmonic. Stephen earned his bachelors degree from Boston University and a Master’s degree from The Cleveland Institute of Music. His teachers have included Michael Sachs, James Darling, Roger Voisin, and Joseph Foley. After graduating from CIM, Mr. Chapdelaine received a principal trumpet post in the Orquesta Juvenil de Veracruz in Xalapa, Mexico, where he played for a short time before moving to New York City. While in New York, he gained experience playing on Broadway, with the American Symphony Orchestra, and with Speculum Musicae. As a chamber musician, he was a founding member of The Ilium Brass, a chamber music fellowship recipient to the Aspen Music Festival, and is currently principal trumpet of the local chamber orchestra, CityMusic Cleveland. Stephen now enjoys life as both musician and as a cook at a prominent Cleveland restaurant.

 

 

Eric Rowles (trombones, bass trumpet, tenor horn, euphonium) studied at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music with Tony Chipurn. He has toured the world with Buddy Morrow, the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and Guy Lombardo's Royal Canadians. Eric has also performed with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Three Dog Night, Johnny Mathis, Bebe Neuwirth, Michael MacDonald, Michael Bolton, Frankie Valle, Gloria Gaynor, The Fifth Dimension, Bobby Caldwell, and many others. He currently resides in the Cleveland area and is in demand to perform with the Akron, Canton and Youngstown symphony orchestras as well as with Opera Cleveland and many shows at Cleveland's Playhouse Square.