Monarch Brass

Concert

In the tradition of the highest artistic levels of brass playing, Monarch Brass was founded by Susan Slaughter, retired principal trumpet of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.  This musical ‘dream team’ has and continues to represent the very best women brass soloists, orchestral, and premiere military band players throughout North America, Europe and Asia.  Impressed by the wealth of prominent women brass artists assembled at the first International Women’s Brass Conference (IWBC) held at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri in 1993, Susan’s idea for Monarch Brass took root.  Her goal was to give larger prominence and visibility to accomplished women brass players to audiences in a field that has been historically dominated by men.

In 1996, as Susan was deciding on a name for the newly formed group, a monarch butterfly appeared. Inspired by the resilience, strength, and beauty of this creature, Susan’s inspiration for the name ‘Monarch Brass’ came into being as a way to describe the women brass players who are members of this ensemble. Monarch’s vision has always been to display the special power, strength, musicality and lyrical sound distinctive of the brass instruments.  They have accomplished this through performing traditional, unusual, fresh, and familiar repertoire composed for, and well-suited to brass.

Monarch performances have been led by the musical vision of many of today’s leading women musicians and conductors.  Those who have occupied the podium of Monarch include Kanako Abe, Sylvia Alimena, Marin Alsop, Robyn Bell, Heather Buchman, Victoria Bond, Daniela Candillari, Carol Crawford, Apo Hsu, Michelle Rakers, Elizabeth Schultze, Marie Speziale, and Mallory Thompson.  Monarch’s inaugural tour occurred in 1996 with performances and educational outreach initiatives in Oklahoma, Michigan and Kansas.  Besides performing at every IWBC Conference since 1997, other appearances include tours to Germany and Italy in 1999 and at The National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington D.C. in 2000.  In addition, the ensemble has performed at the International Trumpet Guild conferences in 2006 (Glassboro, New Jersey), 2015 (Columbus, Ohio), and 2022 (San Antonio, Texas). Other appearances include the International Trombone Festival in 2016 (New York City, New York) and 2024 (Fort Worth, Texas). In December 2016, they performed by invitation at the 70th Annual Midwest Clinic in Chicago, Illinois, and in 2018 at Montclair State University in Montclair, New Jersey.

Because the members of Monarch Brass have musical careers in many different places, all come and convene for a few days of intense rehearsals before each performance. The group has garnered a reputation for world class musical excellence not only in the brass world, but larger musical community.  An atmosphere of professionalism, dedication, mutual respect, inclusiveness, friendship and a sheer joy of performing with each other infuses the group’s work and performances each time they come together.  As Susan Slaughter describes it, “When with Monarch, it’s like being in Heaven. Everyone wants everyone else to succeed.  That’s why we excel—we ‘feed’ off of the support for each other.”