Spokane Symphony adds a special concert: the phenomenal 5 Browns

May 5, 2008

For Immediate Release

Contact: Annie Matlow 464-7071

One family, five pianos and 50 fingers add up to the biggest classical music sensation in years, the New York Post wrote last year of The 5 Browns, adding, When these kids do Rachmaninoff, they'll make you forget about Marshall amps.

The 5 Browns will bring that excitement to Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox on June 28, 2008 at 8 p.m. in a concert presented by the Spokane Symphony. Tickets are on sale to the public today. There are a limited number of $75 tickets that include a prime seat and a pre-concert reception with the 5 Browns.

A youthful, all-American quintet of brothers and sisters, each a virtuoso concert pianist, the 5 Browns swept the classical world in 2005 with the release of their self-titled first recording for RCA Red Seal, which landed them at the top of the weekly Billboard charts and, at the end of the year, as one of the Top Classical Artists of 2005. With their album No Boundaries, the 5 Browns are already delivering on their dream of waking up classical music and introducing it to the widest, largest and most excited audience they can find.

The Fab Five as People headlined its profile of Ryan, 20 years old; Melody, 21; Gregory, 23; Deondra, 25; and Desirae, 27 bring together five distinctive and discriminating keyboard talents, honed at New York's Juilliard School, where for five consecutive years they studied simultaneously. With the advice and direction of their manager Joel Diamond, and their parents, Keith and Lisa, they hit on the idea of casting their lot together as a unique quintet of classical pianists, performing on five pianos and in various ensemble combinations. Their irresistible story has been seen on Oprah, 60 Minutes, Good Morning America and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. They have been profiled in the pages of The New York Times, People Magazine, Los Angeles Times, Gramophone, Entertainment Weekly, Time for Kids Magazine and Sunday London Telegraph, and the classical critics for The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune have hailed their artistry. In the wake of the first album's release, Entertainment Weekly announced, This quintet of piano prodigies revamps stuffy classics for the Rachmaninoff-impaired.

Make no mistake about what the 5 Brown do: they play classical classical music, but not quite as you've ever heard it before. And that fresh energy and sound as their concert performances are proving is opening the doors to classical music for wider and younger audiences.

After one of the Brown 5 most recent concerts in the U.S. with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Morning News wrote, Send them out to schools from shore to shore, with piano teachers on hand to sign up students afterward, and the future of classical music will look a lot brighter the 5 Browns proved that classical music can reach teens and twenty-somethings on their own ground, but without posturing or cheapening the product.

The Browns present themselves as they really are: young adults with a modern look who love fashion, sports, computer games, dancing and all types of music most of all, classical. And audiences, especially the kids, are blown away when the five perform in concert. When the 5 Browns sit down to perform on their five Steinway grand pianos their eyes lock a silent signal passes between them. And in an instant they are transformed, from regular kids to musical dynamos. Flawless in precision and steeped in passion, they invariably stun critics and shatter the preconceptions of those who find classical music inscrutable or intimidating.

The 5 Browns are exclusive Steinway artists.

Tickets are $25, $35, $40., $48 and $75. Tickets are available in advance at the Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox Box Office, 1001 W. Sprague, or by calling 509-624-1200. Tickets are also available at all TicketsWest outlets or by calling 1-800-325-SEAT, or on line at www.spokanesymphony.org.