Allison Kosins, an 18-year-old from Warsaw, Indiana, had the opportunity to meet a member of Canadian Brass on Saturday, Sept. 16 when the quintet ensemble returned to perform at Goshen College as part of the 20th Anniversary Performing Arts Series.

Kosins is a musician in her own right, playing the French horn in her school band and church orchestra. Kosins also has been diagnosed with aplastic Leukemia. Later this fall, Kosins is scheduled to undergo a bone marrow transplant procedure. Through the Indiana Child’s Wish Foundation Alison was granted a French horn of her own, which she received earlier Saturday evening at the Music Center along with a private lesson from Canadian Brass’ French horn player, Bernhard Scully.

Canadian Brass, currently in their 47th season, is a classical brass quintet and a three-time Grammy Award-winning ensemble consisting of founder Chuck Dallenbach on tuba, Caleb Hudson and Christopher Colletti on trumpets, Achillles Liarmakopoulos on trombone, and Bernhard Scully on French horn. They have played in concert halls throughout the US, Canada, Japan and Europe, and have been featured on over 137 audio recordings and videos.

Canadian Brass performed a concert that spanned several musical stylings.  To kick off the show, the ensemble entered through the crowd in Sauder Concert Hall while playing “Selections from Renaissance Brass.” Dallenbach, Hudson, Colletti, Liarmakopoulos and Scully brought not only their world-renowned skills as musicians to the Sauder stage, but also their humor. While performing “Selections from Ballet,” the members of Canadian Brass performed ballet moves while simultaneously playing selections from ballets such as “The Nutcracker” and “Swan Lake.”

Other selections included Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D minor,” Louis Armstrong’s “Beale Street Blues,” and what seemed to be a crowd favorite, the Beatles’ “Penny Lane” with Hudson on piccolo trumpet. Canadian Brass ended the show with an encore, performing a rendition of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Flight of the Bumblebee.”

Goshen College students who attended the show had positive comments regarding their experience seeing Canadian Brass. “I didn’t know what to expect,” said junior Ben Meyer Reimer. Regarding the more physically active numbers, Meyer Reimer said, “I was thoroughly impressed with the coordination of the band members.” From another perspective, senior Brenner Burkholder said that he “grew up listening to [Canadian Brass].”

Even so, Saturday evening was Burkholder’s first time seeing the brass ensemble in concert. “I found them to be humorous and impressive,” he said.

“There is a reason why they are world-renowned,” said senior Isaac Godshalk. “[The ensemble] was a good combination of strong performance and not taking themselves seriously.”

The next concert in the Performing Arts Series is Mary Chapin Carpenter on Saturday, Sept. 14 at Sauder Hall.