For more information about the Meridian Arts Ensemble, please contact us. Washington Post, March 18, 1996 Style Section PERFORMING ARTS by Joan Reinthaler The urge to classify seems bred into the human spirit and is certainly nourished by our schooling. Then along comes a music group such as the Meridian Arts Ensemble that confounds the urge. It is a brass quintet, but sometimes with the addition of some big-time percussion, it is a sextet, no longer all brass. Its members play works of baroque formalism as well as arrangements of Frank Zappa's theatricalism. The one constant in the ensemble's performance at the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater Thursday night, however, was extraordinary command of whatever they happened to be addressing at the moment. Much of their program --- some of the pieces of which were written by ensemble members --- would have been at home in a jazz club or rock joint. Daniel Grabois, who plays the french horn, contributed a piece called "Zen Monkey" most notable for a wonderful passage beginning with a tightly controlled rhythmic pattern that slides apart and decomposes into splendid chaos. Tuba player Raymond Stewart put together "KOHS-ska", a rhythmically compelling piece for the sextet full of abrupt but satisfying modulations, and lead trumpeter Jon Nelson's "Fanfare for Nothing" and "Sleepless", both written during bouts of insomnia, sparkled with energy. The performances were bright and clean, the music-making was intense and laced with good humor, and the introductions to each piece were entertaining and helpful. top of page This website and all content copyright © 2006 Meridian Arts Ensemble