Kola Owolabi eagerly anticipates this weekend, though he might not show it.

The soft-spoken organist for Hendricks Chapel will be performing alongside Boston Brass, a brass quintet coming to Syracuse University as part of the Esther Malmgren Concert Series this Sunday at Hendricks Chapel.

‘Brass and organ is a great combination,’ said Owolabi, who has been performing at Hendricks for the past three years. ‘They perform a really wide variety of music, ranging from classical pieces, but also popular music.’

The program for the Boston Brass concert features classical music from Dmitri Shostakovich and Argentinean composer Alberto Ginastera, composers that might not come to mind as easily as Mozart and Bach.

To counteract this unfamiliarity, the group will also be playing a diverse selection of contemporary jazz. Dizzy Gillespie, Pee Wee Ellis and Duke Ellington are all well-represented on the set list. The five-piece group will perform both by themselves and with Owolabi.

Boston Brass has played at concerts and festivals in Europe, Asia and across the country, performing over 100 concerts annually. Despite this hectic schedule, however, this is not their first time at SU.

‘They’ve performed in our series several times over the past 20 years or so,’ said Owolabi, who organized this concert. ‘They mentioned in the past that they had done some things with the organist at the time and asked if I was interested in that.’

After the show, on Monday the group will stay in Syracuse and conduct a workshop with brass students at the Setnor School of Music.

In 2004, Boston Brass collaborated with the SU Wind Ensemble for a Christmas album entitled ‘Christmas Bells are Swingin’.’ The addition of brass instruments to classic Christmas music was especially fitting, said Owolabi.

‘At Christmastime, you hear a lot of music from brass and organ.’

The concert is free for members of the community.

Throughout her life, Esther Malmgren had always considered the organ to be her favorite musical instrument. When she graduated from Syracuse University in 1942, she shared her passion for music with the community by granting a gift to Hendricks Chapel.

As a result, the Esther Drake and John Vincent Malmgren Concert Series has been a fixture on campus since 1991, with three or five free shows being organized every year.

There was just one catch: At least one of the concerts per year had to feature her beloved organ.

‘It’s really wonderful – the people appreciate it from the community because they bring in these great musicians and then they don’t have to pay to go to these concerts,’ said Sue Martini, the scheduling secretary at Hendricks Chapel.

She takes pride in her work at Hendricks Chapel, helping set up the sound system in preparation for the show. The chapel’s excellent acoustics should help the group show off their musical talent, she said.

‘They really are entertaining and they talk to the audience, they tell you a lot of information, they’re very engaging, and they just make it fun.’

Hopefully this will be enough to stir SU students into exploring music that isn’t commonly heard on campus, students such as Marissa Baum.

‘I think it’s more going to be music aficionados rather than your everyday college student,’ said the junior art history major.

‘It’s not exactly the stuff you hear at frat parties.’

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Published on February 4, 2009 at 12:00 pm