BRASS ENSEMBLES

The OCU Brass Ensemble was formed to give university brass players the opportunity to perform together outside of their normal rehearsals in the Symphony Orchestra, Wind Philharmonic and quintets. The goals of this ensemble are to bring brass majors together in a large symphonic brass setting to help them develop and fine-tune the skills that are required to be effective as a brass section in any ensemble and to expose them to the wide variety of repertoire that has been written for large brass groups. The Brass Ensemble is made up of undergraduate and graduate students in the Wanda L. Bass School of Music.

In the fall of 2007, OCU faculty and other friends joined the OCU Brass Ensemble to give its inaugural concert featuring pieces by Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Giovanni Gabrieli and more.

OCU Brass Ensemble Concerts

Please join us! All concerts are free and open to the public.

Monday, December 5 – 4 p.m. (LRH)
Wednesday, March 14 – 8 p.m. (Petree Recital Hall)
Monday, April 23 – 4 p.m. (LRH)

Benjamin Nilles, Conductor

Benjamin Nilles is currently the Music Director/Conductor of the Symphony Orchestra, Conductor of the Brass Ensemble, and the Ensemble Librarian at Oklahoma City University. Benjamin received his Bachelor of Music degree in Horn Performance from Concordia College in Moorhead, MN, and his Master of Music degree in Conducting from Oklahoma City University. After receiving his masters, Benjamin began working at OCU in 2006 as Assistant Conductor of the Symphony Orchestra, and in 2009 was appointed Associate Conductor. He has studied conducting with Bruce Houglum, Matthew Mailman, Mark Parker, and Mark Belcik. He also participated in the last conducting master class given by Sergiu Comissiona. In addition to having conducted the instrumental ensembles at Concordia College and Oklahoma City University, Benjamin has also conducted the Oklahoma Youth Orchestra, Oklahoma Youth Philharmonic and a studio orchestra for a recording session with country singer Bryan White.