Joe Burgstaller, trumpet
Josef Burgstaller was North America's busiest trumpet soloist when he joined the Canadian Brass, averaging more than 50 solo concerts every season. He has performed and taught in 42 states, 13 countries, and hundreds of cities throughout North, South and Central America, Europe and Asia.
Joe is also a writer and arranger, and has extensive experience as both a chamber musician and an educator. He taught upwards of 7,000 students every year and has appeared at over 40 universities, conservatories and colleges. Joe has been on many national and local radio and television programs and has recorded for a dozen different labels. His solo CD "The Virtuoso Trumpet" is available through the Canadian Brass website.
Joe began the trumpet at age six, a year after he heard the instrument at a preschool demonstration. He did his undergraduate and graduate studies at Arizona State University, studying with Regents' Professor and renowned soloist David R. Hickman.
Joe lives in New York City, his immediate family lives in Virginia, and he has a large extended family in Austria (where his parents are from).
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Ryan Anthony, trumpet
Ryan Anthony was assistant professor of trumpet at the prestigious Oberlin Conservatory when he was called to the Canadian Brass, at age 31 in the summer of 2000. He already had ties to the group, because he played much of the Canadian Brass repertoire as a student and had even shared the stage with the group in a high school workshop performance.
"My first professional job was playing Canadian Brass' quintet repertoire. We so admired them! It's a dream come true to be a member of the group that most influenced me as a student," says Ryan.
The admiration goes both ways. Chuck Daellenbach had kept the sound of the young Ryan's trumpet in mind and recalled his charismatic stage presence for 15 years. That's how Ryan was called to fill the shoes of Ron Romm, who played with the Canadian Brass for 29 years.
Ryan was born into a musical family in San Diego, California, that boasts seven generations of musicians. He began with violin, but was irresistibly drawn to the trumpet from an early age. Numerous national awards and bachelor's and master's degrees in performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music opened the doors to major American orchestras. Aside from being an orchestra musician, he has performed as soloist in the Bach and Hummel trumpet concertos with the Cleveland Orchestra and Detroit Symphony, and he was guest artist at the 1998 Pan Pacific Music Festival in Sydney, Australia. Composer Donald Erb wrote and dedicated two solo works for Ryan Anthony.
Ryan's home is in Memphis, TN, where he lives with his wife Niki and their little daughter Lili.
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Jeff Nelsen, French horn
Jeff Nelsen, French horn, joined the Canadian Brass in the summer of 2000. Age 30 at that time, he is the same age as the quintet. He was born near Edmonton, Alberta, into a family that owned a pig farm and made plenty of music -- his parents, Ron and Diane Nelsen as opera singers, his sisters Lisa, a freelance flutist in England, and Suzanne, a bassoonist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Jeff studied piano and French horn as a child. "I chose the horn because it played the opening theme of Little House on the Prairie," he admits. After a three-year break to play sports, he threw himself into music again as a university student. When he toured with McGill University Orchestra and performed at Carnegie Hall, he was hooked.
The energetic Jeff Nelsen has been a member of the Montreal, Vancouver, and Winnipeg Symphony orchestras on fourth horn and has played with most of Canada's major orchestras, including Edmonton, Calgary, National Arts Center, and Canadian Opera Company orchestras. He has been on faculty with four Canadian Universities and has toured with many pop musicians including Michael Bolton, Barry Manilow, and Donny Osmund and performed major musicals, movie soundtracks, and big band as well as the classical repertoire.
Jeff turned down the first chair position in the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in order to join the Canadian Brass.
And he brings more than musical magic to the Canadian Brass. He is an enthusiastic magician, and often adds touches of illusionary art to performances.
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Gene Watts, trombone
Gene Watts is the original creator behind the Canadian Brass. When the idea came to him in 1970, he had already carved out an orchestral career with orchestras in North Carolina, San Antonio and Milwaukee. Gene came to Toronto when he was hand-picked by Seiji Ozawa as first trombonist for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Soon he met Chuck Daellenbach (tuba) and the two set out to create a new model for brass quintets, which has been widely emulated but not yet matched.
Gene's life is steeped in music. He grew up in a musical family in Sedalia, Missouri, where he listened to mostly dance bands and sat in with local jazz groups. He financed his music studies at the University of Missouri in Columbia with his Dixieland band, the Missouri Mudcats. Gene further developed his lucid, elegant style during studies at the New England Conservatory in Boston, and his love for music expanded from baroque and classical to the newest sounds in concert music and jazz. His alma mater recently awarded him an honorary doctorate in music.
The Watts philosophy of music has guided the Canadian Brass for almost 30 years. His intuition often shapes the group's repertoire, and on stage his quick wit plays off Chuck's as they work the microphones to the delight of audiences. Gene shares his life-long interest in meditation with the group, keeping down stress levels through months of touring. He lives in Toronto with film maker Barbara Sweete.
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Chuck Daellenbach, tuba
Chuck Daellenbach and his tuba have added music, imagination and humor to the Canadian Brass ever since the group began in 1970. The warm and commanding bass sounds of his gold-plated Yamaha tuba are the bedrock of the group's repertoire — from baroque to jazz. To audiences around the world, Chuck is also admired as a witty stage performer whose improvised banter with Gene Watts (trombone) is a concert trademark.
Chuck comes from a long line of German and Swiss musicians, and during his childhood in Wisconsin his father gave him daily music lessons. He left the Eastman School of Music with a Ph.D. at the age of 25 and headed north to teach music at the University of Toronto. His academic plans were derailed when he met Gene Watts, who had plans for a unique brass quartet — now a quintet with Chuck on tuba. Together the two created The Canadian Brass and a new model for daring stage presentation of eclectic repertoire. “The music must be satisfying, and the format interesting and entertaining,” says Chuck.
Chuck's energy is legendary, and he gives the word “multi-tasking” new meaning. He is a superb musician, overall stage performer, businessman, and innovator. Among his projects is a series of 200 brass works published by Hal Leonard, many with CDs, and played by students everywhere. When not on tour, Chuck is at home in Toronto or Florida with his wife Mary Beth and their two young sons.
