CSO member joins Prairie Bass Band for free concert

For more than a dozen years, the Prairie Brass Band has attracted skilled musicians from across the suburbs and even Wisconsin for its weekly rehearsals and regular concert series.

However, for their spring concert this weekend, the Arlington Heights-based ensemble drew a legitimate star: Chicago Symphony Orchestra bass trombonist Charlie Vernon.

Vernon will perform with the band at 4 p.m. Sunday, May 16 at Trinity United Methodist Church, 1024 Lake Ave., in Wilmette. Admission is free, though donations will be welcomed.

The concert will feature traditional British brass band music - with its unique configuration of cornets, E flat tenor horns, euphoniums and percussion - with Vernon featured in two major works: "Rhapsody for Bass Trombone" by Stephen Bulla and "Proclamation for Bass Trombone" by Gordon Langford.

"You don't get to hear bass trombone solos very often, so this is a great opportunity to hear a truly unique instrument," says Prairie Brass Band Director Dallas Niermeyer, formerly the band director at Hersey High School in Arlington Heights.

The venue itself holds some interest, as it was the stately Gothic revival church in the 1990 film, "Home Alone." But its sanctuary also boasts excellent acoustics, Niermeyer adds, and a commitment to excellent music by its members.

The Prairie Brass Band has drawn international recognition as annual hosts of the U.S. Open Brass Band Championships, held each year in St. Charles. Last month, they returned for the third year to serve as the house band for the Heartland International Tattoo at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, before heading out this summer in parades across the suburbs this summer, from Bartlett to Mount Prospect, and concerts in Geneva, Arlington Heights and Kenosha, Wis.

This is their first concert playing alongside a principal member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

"We're thrilled," Niermeyer says. "He brings a lot of credibility to our band, since he is one of the most outstanding bass trombonists in the world."

Vernon has been the CSO's only bass trombonist since 1986. Before that, he performed with the Baltimore Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra.