The SJSU School of Music proudly presents the Seraph Brass quintet, winners of the American Prize in Chamber Music. The group has been praised for its “beautiful sounds"" (American Record Guide), "fine playing” (Gramophone), and “staggeringly high caliber of performance” (Textura). Seraph Brass is our nation’s only all-women professional brass quintet. Each member of the ensemble is highly trained and dedicates themselves to excellence in performance, broader accessibility of music education, and promoting new compositions by female and BIPOC composers. Members of Seraph Brass are passionate about music education, and hold teaching positions at the University of North Texas, Shenandoah Conservatory, Texas State University, and Texas Lutheran University. In each of their tours, the group works to provide educational outreach to local schools, and they also offer a variety of entrepreneurship and career development workshops, in addition to traditional brass pedagogy and technique classes.

Seraph’s residency highlights of the season include Yale School of Music, University of Miami, University of Memphis, University of Missouri, Mary Baldwin University, and the Pear Arts Residency in Fort Wayne. Seraph will be releasing a new album in March of 2025 through Tower Grove Records, showcasing new works for brass quintet and featuring compositions by Jeff Scott, Reena Esmail, Kevin Day, and Kevin McKee. Seraph Brass was founded by trumpet soloist Mary Elizabeth Bowden with a mission to showcase the excellence of women brass players and highlight musicians from marginalized groups, both in personnel and in programming.

This programming is made possible thanks to the College of Humanities and the Arts' Artist Excellence Programming Grant.