The Lexington Brass Band was founded in the summer of 1992 by a group of area college brass professors interested in the rich repertoire of the British-style brass band. Drs. Ronald Holz and Skip Gray initially served as co-conductors, and President–Vice President respectively. Other key members at that early organizational phase were Vincent DiMartino, David Henderson, Louis Bourgois, Dan Brock, John Surgener, Mike West, and Dale Warren. Very soon several other key brass players and music teachers joined to help form the nucleus of an excellent band, including Jim Willett, Terry Magee, Tanya Bromley, H.M. Lewis, Ken Schubert, and husband and wife team Don and Karen Grammer. The band’s first concert was presented in November 1992, at the Central Christian Church.

 

Since that inaugural concert, the band has offered a regular concert series every year of its existence. In the first 7 years, the band alternated their concert locations between Central Christian Church and the Singletary Center for the Arts at the University of Kentucky. The 1998-99 season was held at the Lexington Opera House, and starting in the fall of 1999 programs were usually held at Calvary Baptist Church, 150 East High Street, Lexington. In that same year Ronald Holz became the sole Music Director of the Lexington Brass Band, serving in that capacity until June 2014. From the fall of 2004 through spring of 2007, the band presented its concerts at Centenary United Methodist Church, 2800 Tates Creek Rd, Lexington. From the fall of 2007 to the spring of 2014, the band returned to Calvary Baptist Church in downtown Lexington for its concerts, moving back to Centenary UMC with the 2014-15 season, with occasional concerts at the Lexington Opera House.

 

When Dr. Holz retired at the end of the 2013-14 season, the band used the 2014-15 season to audition guest conductors for the position of Music Director.  At the end of that process, Vince DiMartino was selected as Music Director (June 2015-October 2017), with Lois Wiggins serving as the band’s Assistant Conductor.  That same year, the band established a permanent office in ArtsPlace.  Lois Wiggins served as the band’s interim Music Director from October 2017-May 2018.  Following another audition process, David Goins was named as the band’s Music Director in May 2018.

 

In addition to its annual subscription concert series, the band has featured at such events as Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, International Trumpet Guild Conference, the gala concert at the All England Masters Brass Band Championships in Cambridge, England (and tour of England), several gala concerts of North American Brass Band Association, many appearances at the Great American Brass Band Festival, the Kappa Kappa Psi National Convention in 2015, and in Toronto, Canada, at the International Showcase gala concert at the Hannaford Street Silver Band’s Festival of Brass. In 2013 they featured at the University of Kentucky’s BrassFest and the Great American Brass Band Festival’s Grand Finale. Highlights of the 2017-18 season included participation in a Salvation Army Benefit Christmas Concert and a combined concert in April with the Lexington Singers and Lexington Ringers, featuring John Rutter’s Requiem and Daniel Pinkham’s Symphony Sacra.