Denison University's music department will host a special concert featuring the Latex Trombone Quartet at 8 p.m., Friday (Feb. 6) in Burke Recital Hall. The musicians playing for this Ohio tour are Michael Davidson, Bill Mathis, Bill Rose and Mark Thompson. Admission is free and open to the public.

The Latex Trombone Quartet was originally comprised of university professors teaching trombone and low brass in Louisiana (LA) and Texas (TEX). Although members of the ensemble now live in Louisiana, Oklahoma and Ohio, the name "Latex" has been retained to remember the group's origins. Members of the quartet have performed together during the past 13 years with orchestras in Louisiana and Texas, including the Shreveport Symphony, the Lake Charles Symphony, the Longview Symphony, and the Rapides Symphony. The Quartet has also been featured at the Texas Music Educators Association Convention/Clinic, the New York Brass Conference, and the International Trombone Festival. They released their first compact disc ("Latex Trombones") in December of 2002.

Selections on Friday's program range from "Tannhauser" by Wagner and a sacred suite from "Der Tod Jesu" by Graun to Duke Ellington's "Mood Indigo" and Hoagy Carmichael's "Georgia on My Mind."

Davidson serves as assistant professor of music at Northwestern Oklahoma State University, where he teaches jazz studies, music education methods, and applied low brass. He holds degrees from the University of Florida and Centenary College of Louisiana, and is pursuing a doctorate from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He is principal trombonist in the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra.

Mathis is associate professor of trombone at Bowling Green State University. A native of Wichita, Kan., he earned a bachelor of music education degree from The Wichita State University and his master's and doctorate from The University of Michigan in trombone performance. He has performed as soloist at the Festival at Sandpoint, Mississippi Music Teachers Association State Convention and the Ann Arbor Chamber Orchestra, as well as at several universities and colleges throughout the South and Midwest. From 1989-2000 he was a member of Shreveport Symphony.

Rose is currently associate professor of music at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, La., where he holds the Henry Alexander Endowed Professorship in Music and is a Yamaha Performing Artist. He holds degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Michigan State University. He has served as principal trombonist/euphonium with the Milwaukee Civic Orchestra and has performed with the Milwaukee Symphony, the Greater Lansing Symphony, and the Detroit Chamber Winds among others.

Thompson is a faculty member at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, La., teaching trombone and low brass. He holds degrees from Murray State University, the University of Southern California, and the University of Iowa. A charter life member of the International Trombone Association, Thompson was a featured artist/clinician at the 1997 International Trombone Festival in Champaign, Ill., and is currently principal bass trombone of the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra and principal trombone of the Longview Symphony Orchestra.

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

For press inquiries:

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