Welcome to Toronto

I was at the very first IWBC in St. Louis in...1991, was it? A long time ago. It was there that I met Suzanne Chasalow, who is now the hornist in my quintet, the Farallon Brass Ensemble, and performed with the great Joyce Johnson Hamilton. This time, I'm calling myself an "international observer" and will fill this blog with my own impressions and observations of the conference, a once-every-four-year occurrence. This is my third day in Toronto, a lovely city on Lake Ontario getting ready for the upcoming G20 summit and currently enjoying the FIFA World Cup (this is a very cosmopolitan city).

Sunday's "World's Biggest Brass Event" was the pre-amble to the conference, which turned out to be 101 brass players performing Mouret's Fanfare on the grass at Humber College conducted by Howard Cable. I have to admit that I didn't know who Mr. Cable was, but now I understand that he is quite well-known here in Canada.

Musicians are arriving today and rehearsals for the competitions can be heard through the halls of Humber.