About us

The Fountain City Brass Band, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is committed to cultural enrichment by performing eclectic concerts that expand the brass band art form and are both entertaining and educational for audiences. Fountain City seeks to bridge the gap between popular and classical art music by performing a wide variety of music, including modern compositions written specifically for brass bands and arrangements of classical works, jazz, and Broadway hits.

Fountain City has been featured performers throughout North America and Europe at such events as the Midwest Clinic, Brass in Concert, Great American Brass Band Festival, U.S. Masters Brass Entertainment Championships, Glenn Miller Festival, International Trombone Festival, International Tuba & Euphonium Conference, Longs Peak Scottish Irish Highlands Festival, Missouri Music Educators Association Conference, Kansas Music Educators Association Conference, Missouri Bandmasters Association, Nebraska Bandmasters Association, Celebration at the Station, and the Scottish Festival of Brass. The band has collaborated with artists such as David King, Ryan Anthony, Joe Burgstaller, Jens Lindemann, Rex Richardson, Jose Sibaja, Jonathan Bates, Marty Hackleman, Helen Tyler, Brett Baker, Tony Baker, Michael Dease, Brian Hecht, Wycliffe Gordon, Yu Tamaki Hoso, Christian Lindberg, David Childs, Matthew van Emmerik, Tormod Flaten, Steven Mead, Øystein Baadsvik, Patricio Cosentino, Les Neish, Steve Rosse, and Patrick Sheridan.

The band actively seeks to initiate cultural revitalization and arts awareness in the Kansas City community. In 2008, Dr. Helen Harrelson established The Fountain City Youth Brass Academy as the educational outreach component of the Fountain City Brass Band. The mission of the Academy is to inspire young musicians of all performance ability levels to achieve a high standard of musicianship and to foster a life-long love of music.

When not performing in concert, Fountain City maintains an active competition schedule. Since the band’s first competition in 2004, it has won 10 U.S. Open Brass Band Championships, 9 North American Brass Band Championships, and 1 Scottish Open Brass Band Championship, becoming the first U.S. band ever and the first non‐UK band in over 50 years, to win a major brass band competition on UK soil. For over a decade, Fountain City has been the top-ranked brass band in North America.