This Friday, Nov. 19, the Department of Music will welcome the Stiletto Brass Quintet for a masterclass at 4 p.m. and concert at 6 p.m., both in Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall.

Now in their 10th season, Stiletto Brass Quintet has gained exposure as a leading chamber ensemble with performances audiences greeted with rousing ovations with the Pops Orchestra of Bradenton and Sarasota; at the Festival de Música de Cámera in Aguascalientes, Mexico; the International Women's Brass Conference; with Doc Severinsen and the Heartland Festival Orchestra; at the National Trumpet Competition; the International Trumpet Guild Conference; the Great American Brass Band Festival; and concerts throughout the United States. The ensemble also shared the stage with Italian jazz great Andrea Tofanelli and commissioned and premiered a new composition entitled "Scarpe!" An adamant believer in music for young people, Stiletto Brass, while on tour, regularly performs educational concerts and gives master classes in the schools.

Stiletto features five highly accomplished women from the U.S. with careers spanning the fields of solo, orchestral, wind band and brass chamber music: Amy Gilreath and Susan Rider, trumpets; guest artist Stacie Mickens, horn; Natalie Mannix, trombone; and Velvet Brown, tuba.

The group, as highlighted in the December 2014 edition of the acclaimed international brass magazine, The Brass Herald, reflects timely changes in the music scene. Its energetic and diversified repertoire includes compositions written by leading composers of our time, as well as classical and popular works from the Baroque period to jazz. Stiletto's concerts are fun, serious, heart-warming, entertaining and always an audience's favorite!

Admission is free and is open to the public.