About Us - Orchid City Brass Band

OUR HISTORY

who is orchid city?

where we’ve been

In the summer of 2012 a group of professional and free lance brass players and percussionists gathered to form a British-style brass band. Taking our name in honor of West Palm Beach, the “Orchid City,” the group is now the premier ensemble of its type in the entire region. Orchid City is a diverse, 30-member, all-volunteer ensemble of top-tier musicians seeking to lead a musical renaissance in the performing arts community as the original, traditional British-style brass band in South Florida.

Orchid City represents the finest tradition of brass band playing. We continually strive to offer our members and audiences the best possible musical experience. Despite a proud heritage traceable to the Victorian age, Orchid City keeps an eye toward the future by encouraging new players, new music, and new interpretations of old classics.

We recognize and honor our heritage in the tradition of British brass bands but remain a contemporary musical ensemble committed to delivering an experience that is informative, entertaining, and engaging. An Orchid City concert features everything from transcriptions of orchestral and wind band classics, original works for brass bands, and arrangements of popular songs, movie scores, sacred, folk, jazz, and stage works.

where we’re going

Our Mission

Our mission is to promote the art of brass band music and its performance at the highest artistic level and foster music teaching and educational programs in the community.

Our Vision

Our vision is to create and preserve camaraderie and a sense of community among a broad and diverse group of members and musicians who contribute to the cultural fabric of the South Florida community by developing an equally broad and diverse audience, educating the public about the intrinsic value of the genre, and encouraging interest and participation in brass band performance.

Our Purpose

Our purpose is to bring joy, community, and inspiration through the power of music.

The instrumentation combines cornets, tenor and baritone horns, euphoniums, trombones, tubas, and percussion to produce timbres that are unique to the British Brass Band tradition. Trumpets and French horns, standard in orchestras and concert bands, are not included. Today, British-style brass bands are located on every continent, in almost every country. Composers from around the globe continue to write and arrange music for this exquisite instrumentation and tradition.

The Orchid City Brass Band plays a wide variety of musical styles, in the tradition of British bands. Concerts feature everything from transcriptions of the classics, original works for brass bands, and arrangements of popular songs, movie scores, jazz, and stage works.