Shrewd Brass
Based in Melbourne
About this act
Shrewd Brass started in 1988 at the Victorian College of the Arts, busking in Bourke Street Mall for student money. The Last Laugh picked them up for a three month season, Musica Viva Australia found them after that, and the school shows have not stopped since: over 2,000 primary and secondary performances across Australia and in Singapore, plus more than twenty years of touring. The education program puts five players in front of students to pull the instruments apart, mechanically and musically, across classical, rock and jazz, with plenty for the room to join in on. Lounge is the comedy side, roving and interactive, running from Beethoven to Bacharach and annual seasons in Hong Kong since 1999. And for a formal welcome or a launch, four to eight trumpeters in immaculate dress play a composed fanfare.