Fulcrum Point New Music Project – Urban Classical Funk: A World Turned Upside-down

Review By Justin Bisnauthsing

Urban Classical Funk: A World Turned Upside-down showcases a quintet of adept brass instrumentalists celebrating brass chamber music in the stylings of modernist and post-modern expression June 7, 2025 at The Music Institute of Chicago, Evanston. The program features Stephen Burns and Rebecca Oliverio on trumpets, Momo Hasselbring Seko on the French horn, Robyn Smith on the trombone, and Kevin Harrison on the tuba. The five musicians operate with an air of unity, using and sharing a precise focus to skillfully deliver a diverse program of poignant selections that resonate with the frightening uncertainty of life in modern society. 

The concert includes premieres by Madison Anglin and Ed Bland, as well as the works of Randall Woolf and Alvin Etler. The selections present a program that offers both a cohesive throughline and sonic diversity, keeping the pacing of the performance feeling fluid and engaging. This duality bolsters the intended juxtaposition of post-modern minimalism and modernism styles. Resulting in a product that feels vast and intentional, the past in collaboration with the present. 

The performance begins with Eucalyptus by Randall Woolf (2001). The piece shifts into gear with an electronic drum track by Danny Blume. The drum track offers a steady throughline as the sounds of Harrison’s tuba join to facilitate a bouncy and danceable groove. The low bass tones of the tuba are expertly accompanied by Smith on trombone, creating a unified bass section that slides and swells alongside the pulsating drums. The shouts of syncopated trumpets present an excitement that grows alongside the grounding chime of the French horn. 

Each piece of the puzzle works cohesively to deliver a highly rhythmic display that leaves you with no choice but to get your body moving. 

The program continues with Brass Quintet by Ed Bland (1980). This work is in three separate movements. However, each movement seems to be a connected progression of the last. Commenting on before progressing into a landscape unknown. The way the piece establishes a moment and dissolves it, to then build it from the ground up again, creates a curious ebb and flow between the movements that make the piece feel cyclical and cohesive. The first movement features the chiming trumpet sounds of Burns and Oliverio, which float above and intertwine with the low chugging rhythm of the tuba. Movement two swells and dissolves in a dense sea of brass sounds that crash and fall into one another, they dissipate and build again. This leads up to a satisfying climax in the third movement as Seko’s French horn smoothly bends around Smith’s grounding trombone slides. Harrison joins with the tuba in an anticipated pay-off in the form of a harmonious tune accompanied by an underlying funk rhythm. 

Our journey progresses with a Chicago premiere of Green Sky by Madison Anglin (2024). The piece begins with a percussive backing track of bright tapping symbols. The trumpets with triumphant tenor create an instantly captivating progression of confident horns. The backing track introduces subtle drum beats before dropping out to let the quintet shine with chiming scales that build and work together. The trumpets and French horn become sensual and lull as the rhythm section relinquishes control to the horns. The punchy kick drums resume while the French horn flutters and twists around the steady backing track. This cycle repeats as each instrument builds up stronger into an undeniable display of rhythm and groove before slowly peeling away to reveal the catchy trumpet rhythm that the piece strongly began with. 

Brass Quintet by Alvin Etler (1964) closes out the program with four movements of melancholic urgency that insist on grabbing your attention in hopes of facilitating change. Inspired by the tragedy of the Vietnam War, the listener is greeted with the creeping feeling of despair in the first movement. The trumpets spiral and rise, only to fall as the sounds of the instruments linger in darkness. The fluttering trills of the French horn lift the sound out of an ominous feeling of curiosity. The piece treads along until exploding into a crescendo that signifies danger is near. The second movement was developed with a motif of three notes that signify SOS in Morse code. The underlying feeling of danger remains as each instrument calls out to one another. The quintet grows into a shout as the trombone and French horn boast above the rest with gliding melodies. The third movement begins strikingly with a lament of somber trumpet sounds. Oliverio’s trumpet cries out with impressive notes that cut through and rise above the rest of the arrangement that remains thick and wilts. In the fourth movement, the determined trumpets drone and expand back and forth into each other. The quintet plays with a staccato urgency that emulates the unpredictable and terrifying uncertainty of war sounds. The suspense is built slowly until the tension is released into a brilliant trombone solo by Smith. The piece comes to a clamoring finale with a crescendo that features each instrument playing at its fullest potential. This results in a pause and finally releases into one last guttural cry of universal anger, frustration, and grief. 

Photo Credit: Fulcrum Point New Music Project

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