The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Wind Ensemble will perform in a concert featuring world renowned tuba soloist, Velvet Brown, on Friday, March 2.

The concert will be held in Michelsen Hall in the Noel Fine Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. under the direction of Brendan Caldwell, acting director of bands at UWSP. A discussion of the concert will be held at 7 p.m. in Room 240 of the Noel Fine Arts Center.

Part of the Music Department Scholarship Series, admission is $6.75 for the general public, $3.75 for senior citizens, $2.75 for youth and free the day of the concert for students with UWSP IDs. Tickets are available at the University Box Office, 200 Division St., or by calling (715) 346-4100 or (800) 838-3378. Visa, MasterCard and Discover are accepted. Tickets may also be available at the door if the concert is not sold out.

Brown will perform Vaughan Williams� monumental "Concerto for Tuba." The Wind Ensemble also will perform Stravinsky�s "Circus Polka" and "Lincolnshire Posy" by Grainger. According to Caldwell, "Lincolnshire Posy" is perhaps the greatest and most important work for wind ensemble. This performance will mark the 70^th anniversary of the piece�s premiere in Milwaukee in 1937.

On Thursday, March 1, Brown will present clinics in the morning at Wausau East High School. At UWSP, she will give a public lecture on how she has developed her career as an African-American female tuba artist at 5 p.m. in Room 201 of the Noel Fine Arts Center. Friday, March 2, Brown will present a master class to UWSP students at 9 a.m. in Room 250 of the Noel Fine Arts Center. Both events at UWSP are free and open to the public. Her residency is the result of a $1,000 UW System Institute on Race and Ethnicity grant awarded to Associate Professor of Music Brian Martz.

Brown, an associate professor of tuba and euphonium at Pennsylvania State University, is active as an international soloist, chamber ensemble performer, recording artist, conductor and orchestral player. She is currently principal tubist of the Altoona Symphony Orchestra, the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra, and the River City Brass Band. Brown received the distinguished William Fulbright Fellowship Vinciguerra Award in 1999. She has released three solo CDs for Crystal Records, "Velvet," "Music for Velvet" and "Perspectives in Rhythm," and a CD for the Nicolai Music Label.

Caldwell has been active as a clinician and adjudicator for over a decade and speaks throughout the country on topics ranging from music education to youth leadership. He previously taught and conducted at the University of Dayton in Ohio and Lee High School in Baton Rouge, La.

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