Members: Mary Elizabeth Bowden, Trumpet, Sarah Jessen, Trumpet, Layan Atieh, Horn, Lauren Casey-Clyde, Trombone, and Meredith Fuller, Tuba
Seraph Brass, now in its 13th season, was founded by trumpet soloist Mary Elizabeth Bowden with a mission to showcase the excellence of women brass players and to highlight musicians from marginalized groups. Winners of the American Prize in Chamber Music, the group has been praised for its “beautiful sounds" (American Record Guide), "fine playing” (Gramophone), and “staggeringly high caliber of performance” (Textura). In addition to quintet performances and residencies, Seraph performs as a 10-piece ensemble, as soloists with large ensembles, and in collaboration with other chamber artists. Seraph released their latest album Showcase in March of 2025 through Tower Grove Records, featuring new works for brass quintet by Jeff Scott, Reena Esmail, Kevin Day, and Kevin McKee.
The 2026-2027 season features recitals across the United States, including their Alaska debut. Internationally, Seraph Brass will be featured guest artists at the Positively Brass and Percussion Symposium in Trossingen, Germany; the Festival de Música de Morelia (Miguel Bernal Jiménez) in Morelia, Mexico; and BLUME Haiti in Cap-Haïtien, Haiti. Along with their standard, pops, and seasonal holiday recitals, Seraph Brass will be featured as concerto soloists with the San Francisco Brass Band and the Eastern Illinois University Wind Ensemble, and will have residencies at universities including SUNY Potsdam, University of North Carolina at Pembroke and Wilmington, East Carolina University, Montclair State University, Longwood University, Baruch College, and Louisiana Tech University. Seraph Brass will be releasing their third album in the spring of 2027, featuring all new works and arrangements for brass quintet by John Mackey, Tim Higgins, Gala Flagello, Anthony DiLorenzo, Daniella Candillari, and Rose Roberts.
Seraph Brass performs a diverse body of repertoire, ranging from original transcriptions to newly commissioned works and core classics. The group has commissioned pieces by Grammy-Award winner Jeff Scott, as well as Jennifer Jolley, Anthony DiLorenzo, Joseph Hallman, Catherine McMichael, Marcus Grant, and Rene Orth. The pieces by Orth and McMichael are featured on Seraph’s Silver Medal Global Music Award-winning debut album Asteria. The group regularly participates in commissioning consortiums, recently supporting works by Gala Flagello, Kevin Day, Mischa Zupko, Sara Jacovino, and Lillian Yee. Seraph recently commissioned and premiered Jennifer Jolley’s Dust for brass quintet and wind ensemble, which was performed with various ensembles across the US. Last season, Seraph Brass premiered Steven Juliani’s new concerto, The Distant Band with conductor Jerry Junkin and the Dallas Winds. Other concerto performances have included Rick DeJonge’s Prelude and Fantasy, James Stephenson’s Dodecafecta, Suite from Mass by Leonard Bernstein and Anthony DiLorenzo’s Chimera.
The members of Seraph Brass are very passionate about music education and in 2026 the group launched their inaugural Seraph Brass Seminar, a summer chamber music intensive program for students. Individually, members hold faculty positions at Shenandoah Conservatory, the University of Missouri in Kansas City, the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and Western Michigan University. They have worked with youth training programs such as Interlochen Arts Camp, NYO2, Domaine Forget, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Festival Napa Valley, Brass Institutes of America, and the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra. In each tour, the group
works to provide educational outreach to local schools, and offers a variety of entrepreneurship and career development workshops in addition to traditional brass pedagogy.
The ensemble has toured around the world in South America, Asia, Europe, and in 40 United States. Notable engagements include performances at the Tafalla Brass Week in Spain, Lieksa Brass Week in Finland, the International Festival of Winds of Cusco in Peru, the Busan Maru International Music Festival and the Jeju International Wind Ensemble Festival in South Korea, University of Toronto in Canada, the Forum Cultural Guanajuato in Mexico, International Women’s Brass Conference, the International Trumpet Guild Conference, the International Midwest Clinic Band and Orchestra Conference, a two-week tour across China, and a four-week tour across Japan.
Recent touring highlights have included performances and residencies at University of Texas in Austin, Yale University, Oberlin College, Brevard Music Center, Chautauqua Institution, the Lyric Chamber Music Society in NYC, Interlochen Arts Academy, University of Michigan, National Gallery of Art in D.C., Asheville Chamber Music Series, as well as concerto appearances with the Florence Symphony, the United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own,” Texas Tech University Wind Ensemble, University of North Texas Wind Orchestra, Shenandoah Conservatory Wind Ensemble, University of Nebraska-Omaha Wind Ensemble, and Swarthmore College Wind Ensemble. The group has also toured extensively as Allied Concert Services and Live On Stage artists, and was formerly in residency alongside the Dover Quartet at the Artosphere Festival in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
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Supported by the Sigma Chi Endowment Fund for the Classical Performing Arts Fund
Photo by Christina Alegre