BRASS OF PEACE ANNOUNCES ITS 50TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON
Brass of Peace Kicks off a Celebration of 50 Years
With A Concert Celebrating Distinguished BOP Alumni in the Military
Event: 50th Anniversary Kickoff Concert – Brass of Peace Alumni in the Military
Who: Brass of Peace Alumni Members of Washington, D.C. Premier Bands
and current members conducted by BOP Music Director and Conductor, Sylvia Alimena
Where: Peace Lutheran Church, 6362 Lincolnia Road, Alexandria, VA 22312
Date: Sunday, November 22, 2026
Time: 7 p.m.
Admission: Free
Contact: Sylvia Alimena, sylalimena@aol.com • (703) 635-5272
Sylvia Alimena, now in her 38th season as Music Director and Conductor of Brass of Peace, will kick off her Brass of Peace 50th Anniversary season with a concert featuring BOP alumni who currently hold positions in our United States premiere bands. BOP Alumni Premier band members have broken through a long-existing glass ceiling. Those performing include; Blakely Carroll, trumpeter and the first woman to join the United States Air Force Band trumpet section; Aislin Carpenter, trumpeter also of USAFB trumpet section; Caeley Niess, trumpeter and first female lead trumpeter in the United States Navy Band Brass Quintet; Katie Franke, trombone and the first woman to join the President’s Own Marine Band trombone section; Diego Stine, tuba; and Liam McConlogue, horn both of the United States Army Band.
Program: Strauss Solemn Entry.
Von Suppe Light Cavalry Overture
Debussy Girl With the Flaxen Hair
Guilmant Morceau Symphonique for trombone featuring current BOP trombonist, Aiden Bratten
Grieg Anitra’s Dance
Gabrieli: Canzon duodecimi toni
Cheetham: Pavane
Benedetto: Psalm XIX
Bruckner Christus Factus Est
Lauridsen O Magnum Mysterium
Wagner Prelude to Die Meistersinger
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
BRASS OF PEACE 50th ANNIVERSARY GALA CONCERT
Event: Brass of Peace 50th Anniversary Gala Concert
Who: Brass of Peace Alumni from major orchestras and bands throughout the world
Where: Church of the Epiphany, 1317 G St NW, Washington, DC 20005
Date: Monday, December 28, 2026
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Admission: Free
Contact: Sylvia Alimena, sylalimena@aol.com • (703) 635-5272 www.brassofpeace.org
A program featuring Distinguished BOP Alumni from orchestras and bands throughout the world. Program TBA.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
BRASS OF PEACE SEASON FINALE & A WORLD PREMIER
Event: Brass of Peace Season Finale
Who: Brass of Peace Conducted by Music Director, Sylvia Alimena
Where: Peace Lutheran Church, 6362 Lincolnia Road, Alexandria, VA 22312
Date & Time: Sunday, May 2, 2027 at 7:00 p.m.
Admission: Free
On May 2, 2027, Brass of Peace will conclude its 50th Anniversary Season with a world premier of “Why Can’t There Be Peace” commissioned by Brass of Peace from composer and symphony musician, Jonathan Ring. Program TBA.
For Fifty years, Brass of Peace has quietly provided a tuition free music advancement program for high school musicians who want to have a career in music through the Brass of Peace Scholarship Ensemble (BOP). The Brass of Peace Scholarship Ensemble (BOP) sponsored on a volunteer basis by former National Symphony Orchestra hornist, Sylvia Alimena, is a tuition-free program for talented high school brass players.
Over a period of 36 weeks during the school year, Brass of Peace provides an intense training ground for its members and provides them with tools to gain a competitive edge in the field of music. a group of 10-13 BOP scholars participate in two-hour weekly coaching sessions with Ms. Alimena. BOP is recognized throughout the country as a training ground for tomorrow’s fine musicians and is a factor in helping them enter the college or university of their choice.
Countless alumni occupy positions in many of the world’s great orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Singapore Symphony among others. Many alumni have become luminaries in the Jazz and Freelance world as well.
Brass of Peace provides other children with inspiration and a positive role model though their free in-school Kidshare Concerts. Highlights have included a Carnegie Hall Debut on February 12, 2018 thanks to an invitation by Baldwin Wallace Conservatory Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Brendan Caldwell, Conductor. Brass of Peace was also featured in four, story-line concerts for families at the John F. Kennedy Center Theater Lab on May 18 and May 19, 2018 at the
invitation of the National Symphony Orchestra Education Department. Brass of Peace has presented concerts in Pittsburgh, Gettysburg, Philadelphia, Cleveland and New York.
Brass of Peace Music Director and Conductor, Sylvia Alimena is a former member of the National Symphony Orchestra and is in her 38th year as Music Director of Brass of Peace. She has also had an active conducting career throughout the Washington area. In 1992, Ms. Alimena and 22 of her NSO colleagues formed the critically acclaimed Eclipse Chamber Orchestra. Over the course of her 20-year tenure with Eclipse, the orchestra commissioned almost a dozen works and premiered nearly twenty, many of which were recorded by ECO on the Naxos label. Ms. Alimena has also served as Music Director of the McLean Orchestra (2003-2010) and the Friday Morning Music Club Orchestra now known as Avanti Orchestra (1995-2004). From 2003-2006, Ms. Alimena formed a professional collaboration with Evelyn Lear and Thomas Stewart to produce the first orchestral performances with vocalists for the Evelyn Lear and Thomas Stewart Emerging Artist’s Program which focused on the music of Wagner. She was on the board of directors for Coalition for a Livable Alexandria and currently travels the country in her role as a founding board member of the Coalition of Musicians for Ethical change, guiding young musicians toward their best selves in her interactive presentation “Creating Joyful, Inspiring and Safe Artistic Environments.” She is the recipient of the Boston University Distinguished Alumni Award 2004, A Washington Wammy in 2007 for her conducting. She has been entered into the Washingtonian Music Hall of Fame, and most recently has been awarded the Citizen of the Year Award by the Rotary Club of Capitol Hill.
page 4/4
Previous Next