Brass Ring (Brass Quintet)

Founded: Mid 1980's - Connecticut, USA

Brass Ring was a critically-acclaimed American brass quintet, consisting of 2 trumpets, horn, trombone and tuba. The quintet was active from the mid 1980's to late 1990's. They performed mostly their own arrangements of works from the classical repertoire, comissioned several works from American composers, including David Del Tredici, Jacob Druckman, and Ned Rorem, and premiered works by Hans Werner Henze and Félix Leclerc. All their albums were released by Crystal Records.

Members of Brass Ring:

Trumpets: Jay Lichtmann, Claire Newbold, Neil Mueller, Daniel D'Addio
Horn: Kirsten Bendixen, Laura Klock
Trombone: David Kayser
Tuba: Karl Kramer

Jay Lichtmann (Trumpet)

Born: July 9, 1958 - Sepulveda, California, USA
The American trumpeter, Jay Lichtmann, studied at James Monroe High School in North Hills, California (Class of 1976). He obtained his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California (Class of 1980); and had his Graduate Studies in Trumpet Performance at Yale School of Music in New Haven, Connecticut (September 1980-December 1980)
Jay Lichtmann has been an adjunct professor at The Hartt School since 1994. His duties include teaching private trumpet lessons, a brass orchestral repertory class, trumpet studio class, and coaching brass chamber music.
Jay Lichtmann has been a member of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra (HSO) since 1982. He served the first 25 years of his tenure with the HSO in the Principal trumpet chair. He has gone back to school, studying graphic design. During the summer season he has performed as principal trumpet with the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra for the last 23 years. He also served as the principal trumpet with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra from 1987 to 1989 and was a member of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra from 1980 to 1982. He has studied with Thomas Stevens, Mario Guarneri, and Robert Nagel. He lives in Avon, Connecticut with his wife Susan (they got married on June 13, 1995) and Lumpy, his French bulldog.

Claire Newbold (Trumpet)

Born: 1959 (?) - Northampton, Massachusetts, USA
Died: March 8, 2015 - Wallingford, Connecticut, USA
The American trumpeter, Claire Murphy Newbold, was the daughter of Edna Mae Murphy and the late Thomas Patrick Murphy. She grew up in Northampton, graduating from Northampton High School in 1975. She earned music degrees from The Hartt School in Hartford, and the Yale School of Music in New Haven.
Claire Murphy was a trumpeter in Hartford Symphony for 28 years, retiring in 2007. After her retirement, she enjoyed knitting, reading, visiting with family, friends and dogs, and rooting for her New England sports teams.

Kirsten Bendixen (Horn)

Born: Mundelein, Chicago area, Illinois, USA
The American horn player, Kirsten Bendixon Mahoney, obtained her Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University and her Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music. Her principal teachers include Eric Terwilliger, Paul Ingraham, Dale Clevenger and Richard Oldberg.
Kirsten Bendixen was Solo-Horn with the “Orquesta Pablo Sarasate de Pamplona” Spain, Principal Horn of the Fairfield Orchestra, Connecticut, and Third Horn / Associate Principal of the New Haven Symphony, Connecticut. Since moving to Florida in 1993, she has played with the Naples Philharmonic. Other orchestras, with which she occasionally plays, include The Florida West Coast Symphony and the Southwest Florida Orchestra.
Kirsten Bendixen has taught privately since 1982, at the Community Division of the Hartt School of Music in Connecticut from 1987 to 1991, and at Edison College. She currently lives in Naples, Florida.
Apart from her recordings with the Brass Ring, Kirsten Bendixen can be heard on ECM Records playing the music of Keith Jarrett.

David Kayser (Trombone)

The American trombonist, David Kayser, is Director of Bands at New Britain High School in Connecticut.

Karl Kramer (Tuba)

Born: March 14, 1957
The American tubist, arranger and composer, Karl Kramer, is a graduate of Temple University, where he earned his Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education, magna cum laude. He is also a graduate of the Yale School of Music and the Manhattan School of Music, where he earned a DMA studying with Toby Hanks. While at Yale, he was assistant director of University Bands.
Currently, Karl Kramer is principal tubist with the New Haven Symphony.

Source: Bits & pieces from various sources (see links below)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (September 2015)

Brass Ring: Short History | Recordings of Instrumental Works

Links to other Sites

Jay Lichtmann on Facebook
Kirsten Bendixen Mahoney on Facebook

Karl Kramer (Kendor Music)
Jay Lichtman n (The Hartt School)
Claire Murphy Newbold obitiuary (Legacy.com) [from Daily Hampshire Gazette on Mar. 17, 2015]
Kirsten Bendixen Mahoney (Florida Gulf Coast University)