My Brass Quartet

We're located in the City of Burbank near Los Angeles, California.

The names of our instrumentalists are below.

1st Trumpet is Luke Castro
2nd Trumpet Caitlan Curran
1st Trombone is Celeste Castro
Bass Trombone is Dan Castro (Leader of the Quartet).

For more information, email Dan at: mariposapro@yahoo.com

Here is a link to our
very humble Brass Ensemble beginnings.
Take a look...

Christmas 2005 GIGS:

Video clips are here!!! To view, click on the link. Or do a Right Mouse click and select "Save Target as" to download the file to your computer hard drive.

"Excerpt from: Angels We Have Heard on High"(4.9 mb):

"Excerpt from: Good King Wenceslas"(11.2 mb):

"Excerpt from: O Hanukah"(6.3 mb):

* Berean's Class, Lake Avenue Church, Pasadena, CA - Dec. 4, 2005 at 9am
This was our first gig of the season. Many great things happened musically here. All of us (the musician) were excited about future gigs. The brass quartet was well received by the class and many encouraging comments were made about the music. We all had a great time playing the Christmas Carols like: We Wish you A Merry Christmas, It Came Upon A Midnight Clear, O Hanukah, Angeles We Have Heard on High!

Performance Comments Update! A week has passed since our performance in the Berean's Class. I am still receiving very positive comments on our playing. I also heard a funny story, that someone in the class was congratulated that their grand kids played wonderfully in the brass quartet during the performance. The real funny thing is that the person who was congratulated was not related to the kids. But, graciously accepted the positive feedback and relayed the message to me. You know, this is the real reason we play. It is to bring joy, peace, happiness to people who really need it. Feliz Navidad!

* Jordan Middle School Holiday Concert in Burbank, CA - Dec 6, 2005 at 6:30pm-7pm and at intermission
We
had a blast at
Jordan Middle School!
(Don't worry, we blasted in tune!).
We had a great time. I receive many positive
comments about the quartet from the crowd. I saw that,
even though some people didn't make comments, many were passing
by us with
smiles on their faces
as they entered the auditorium.

They also seemed glad we were playing the
Christmas Carols. I think I heard a few in the throngs
singing along with us in the background. This was very cool!
There was a lot of people in the foyer. I'm not complaining about it,
but it made it more intimate. I think I made a few more acquaintances because
of it.
Celeste
and I probably
stabbed a couple of close
bystanders with our trombone slide.
Yes, I always wanted to do that. :) Many of
the middle school students were listening to us during
intermission and after we played were asking questions about the
flugal horns we were using and talking with us about music stuff. We also
attracked a "mob" from the high school band and
they didn't want to leave us.
One of them grabbed a candy cane
and started to conduct the quartet.

This is good! Another wanted to
play drums with us.
I think is was a very cool experience
overall. I hope to do it again soon!!
We played Carols like Feliz Navidad,
God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman,
Away In a Manger, Joy To the World. etc...

Performance Comments Update! I received some cool response because of our playing during the Middle School performance. I received a comment that we sounded so professional. Thanks to all for your fantastic support.

* John Burroughs High School Holiday Concert in Burbank, CA - Thursday, Dec 15, 2005 at 6:00pm-6:30pm and at intermission

Playing before the concert started was cool. We were setup next to the Xmas tree in the Foyer of the auditorium. People were listening to our music. A few spectators video taped our performance. We received many warm smiles from people we never met before. This was a nice warmup to our next performances! We were in close proximity to our listening audience. The environment in the foyer was intimate and the people seemed very appreciative of our music!

* La Plaza UMC - Sunday, Dec. 18, 2005 11am
As we entered the Sanctuary at La Plaza United Methodist Church, we were greeted very warmly by members of the church and the pastor. Pastor Cisneros was very supportive of "Nuevo Amanecer", our Brass Quartet. We setup at the top of the steps. The platform steps resembled the steps of an ancient pyramid. Very Cool! We were able to make a sound recording of our performance here. By the way, it is available for $5.00. Just send my your name and address. You can use www.paypal.com to send me the $5.00. Paypal will ask for an email address to use. Use my email: mariposapro@yahoo.com
We all (the musicians) recieved hugs from many in the audience in appreciation of our performance.

* Raytheon Mini-Concert - Monday, Dec. 19, 2005 Noontime
Our performances at Raytheon Corporation in El Segundo was very interesting. Just before we began to play our Xmas Carols, a group of ladies came and sat near the front from where we were playing. I went over to them and welcomed them to our performance. They were very happy to be there and throughly enjoyed our music. A good number of my personal friends (Raytheon Employees) were there to support us also and they were gracious enough to speak with us after our performance for about 30 minutes after our performance was over. We had a great time!
We also played a very special non-publicized gig in the executive suites area that afternoon. We setup in front of the Christmas tree and started playing the Christmas Carols. I briefly introduced each of our musicians. After our performance, we were showered with gifts of candies and snacks. This was our 2nd year performing at Raytheon and look forward to playing next year! The executives were very appreciative of our music. They also provided lunch for us at the company cafeteria. A Special Thanks to Raytheon and Jose Silva from HISNET (Hispanic Network at Raytheon) for their support in these events.
We all had a blast at Raytheon. Gracias!

* Olvera Street (Placita Olvera in Downtown Los Angeles)
Tuesday thru Thursday, Dec 20-22. Gig times are:
noontime to 1pm - Avila Adobe
4:00pm - 4:30pm - Avila Adobe
5:30pm - 6:00pm - Main plaza area (near Xmas Tree)

Our experience at Olvera Street was awesome. Thanks to "El Pueblo", Los Angeles City for their unwavering support of "Nuevo Amanecer" Brass Quartet. We arrived at the Avila Adobe House (the oldest house in Los Angeles) just before noon and setup. We had to improvise because I had forgotten my keyboard stand at home. We were fortunate enough to use the porch rail of the Avila Adobe house to support my keyboard. We always try to promote music when we play, so I was able to gather a group of kids from an Elementary school to assist us in conducting the brass quartet as they were passing by during a field trip to Olvera St. They were an instant "hit"! They very quickly learned and mastered the fundamentals of conducting and were soon giving it their all to lead the brass quartet in "O Hanukah". Wow! Hopefully with this experience they will be inspired to play a musical instrument.

Another cool thing happend at Olvera St. As we were playing the Christmas Carols, it was brought to my attention that a very special little girl wanted to volunteer to sing "Feliz Navidad". We obliged by providing the background music. She boldly took the microphone and in here little voice screamed the words to Feliz Navidad! Wow! I had never heard Feliz Navidad sound so wild. By this time, we had attracted a fairly large crowd. We all were trying to keep a straight face and keep playing our instruments. What a Blast!

We were asked to play my brass arrangement of "Feliz Navidad" for UNIVISION. The cameraman and lady assistant videotaped our performance. They were from Palm Spring, CA - Cable Channel 12. The performance was aired on Friday, Dec 23, 2005. It was a very cool experience.

I received many comments from the merchants at Olvera Street that they like to hear more traditional groups like the Mariachi's, but were particularly moved by the brass quartet. They encouraged us to continue our music and come again very soon.

A special thanks to Julie S. from El Pueblo for her support of our Brass Quartet, "Nuevo Amanecer"

* Victory Outreach in Eagle Rock, CA - Dec 21, 2005 at 7:30pm-8pm
As a result of playing at Olvera St., we were approached by Pastor Augie from Eagle Rock Victory Outreach to play our Christmas Carols at his church. We had a short discussion with the brass quartet and we all agreed to play at his church. We arrived at the church after playing a full day at Olvera St. They treated us like royalty. We met in the green room and they offered us water and coffee. This was one of their layed back services. We were treated to a Christian Rapper. He had the church movin' with the groove. Wow! What an experience! We followed with our performance. I introduced the musicians of the brass quartet. The crowd was very supportive of our music. My son, Luke's lips were very tired after playing at Olvera Street for many hours, and the crowd spontaneously yelled words of encouragement to lift our spirit. We all enjoyed the fellowship we had with the brothers and sisters of the faith at Eagle Rock Victory Outreach. After our performance, they also offered to buy us dinner, but we had to leave. Oh My! Oh My!.... What a time we had. Playing Cool Xmas music together!!

We'll do this again real soon!!

Relaxing after a performance.

Christmas 2004 GIGS:

* Raytheon Noontime Mini-Concert - Dec. 2004
Here Dan played trombone in the brass quartet along with Luke, Celeste, and Kaitlan at the Raytheon cafeteria during Xmas 2004.

Here we are playing in the lobby of one of the building.

Dan played the keyboard so the other musicians could solo or play as a ensemble with keyboard.