Trombonist Brittany Lasch Cranks It Up to 11
Brittany Lasch.
Brittany Lasch is the Principal Trombone at the Detroit Opera Orchestra (formerly Michigan Opera Theatre) at the Detroit Opera House and an Assistant Professor of Trombone at Bowling Green State University’s College of Musical Arts in Bowling Green, Ohio. She’s performed as a soloist with the U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own”, the Rodney Marsalis Philadelphia Big Brass, and symphonies around the country. A winner of the 2019 S&R Foundation Washington Award, and a skilled trombonist with performances and workshops filling up summer 2022, Lasch finds a still moment to catch up with Classical Post.
Brittany Lasch: A Series of Left Turns
“I tell my students [at Bowling Green State University], that everything that happened after undergrad [at the Manhattan School Music] was a constant series of left turns,” Lasch states. “I had wanted to do certain things, but then other doors opened and all those doors led to exactly where I'm supposed to be.”
“Yale was one of those left turns,” she continues about her acceptance into their Master of Music program. But the pieces all fall into place. At Yale, she studied under Scott Hartman, a noted trombone soloist and chamber music player. From him, she learned that the classical trombone could live outside of the orchestra. “The way he thinks about music and the way he plays was super inspiring to me.”
In the three months following her graduation, she thought she would win a job.
“But it was another left turn,” she says. “I ended up going to Boston University. And, again, it was the best thing that could happen, because I didn't realize how much I liked teaching. My teacher Toby Oft was extremely supportive of me.” At Boston, she had opportunities for solo performances as well as orchestral work, and she received the Brass Department Award.
After finishing her doctorate, she spent nine months piecing together a freelance career. By day, Lasch worked at From the Top, an educational non-profit focused on young classically trained musicians, and she would perform in the evenings.
In 2017, she was trying out for positions across the country, and after getting cut at the semi-final audition-level for a job, she received a phone call from her now department chair at Bowling Green asking her to come to campus to interview for a one-year appointment. She took the job, moved to Bowling Green with her cat Fudge, and re-auditioned the following year for the tenure track position.
“And then one month later, the Detroit Opera worked out,” she states. “So I kind of ended up with a well rounded situation.”
The Vocal Trombone
Lasch finds playing in an opera orchestra a study in observation.
“Orchestral playing versus opera playing modes are very different,” Lasch explains about her work at Detroit Opera Orchestra. In a symphonic orchestra, Lasch points out that the brass mostly functions together with the trombone section potentially subservient to the principal trumpet. “It’s not very scary, and it’s all about blending, balancing, and gentler articulations. It all flows along.”
The opera, on the other hand, is more beautifully chaotic, she explains. The conductor and the whole orchestra must be observant of what’s happening onstage, attuned to the entrances, exits, and performances of the opera singers.
“The conductor holds up the baton, and then BUMP BUMP BUMP,” Lasch explains. “You don't know where it's gonna be, but you're holding your breath and ready to come in with really precise attacks. But depending on what's going on stage, you can't even get a beat. This just comes right at you.”
The trombone, Lasch asserts, “is super vocal.” Indebted to the brass pedagogy connected with the Chicago Symphony and tubist Arnold Jacobs’ “song and wind” philosophy, Lasch has always found the breaths, the phrasing, and expression of the trombone akin to the voice.
In Book of Arias Trombone, Lasch has edited 33 arias for trombone with the text below (with translations into English available) for guidance for phrasing, articulation, and cantabile dynamics.
From Star Wars to Astral Artists
Growing up in Park Ridge, Illinois, just outside of Chicago, Lasch selected the trombone in fifth grade because of Star Wars. After watching the films with her father she was delighted when the school band director played themes from Star Wars prominently featuring the trombone.
“I told my mom it was a sign I had to play the trombone. She was very excited to tell everyone how I chose my instrument at my recital in undergrad [at the Manhattan School of Music],” Lasch laughs. “I still love Star Wars and I am still not very good at playing the violin.”
It may be fitting then that Lasch joined Astral Artists (the name also points toward the stars) in 2017 after winning their National Audition as their first featured brass player.
“They took a big chance on me, because what I do is very different from the violinist or singers,” she explains. “I can't always play as much as violinists or as frequently. My repertoire is different. Sometimes it's harder to get engagements for me purely because people aren't as open to different instruments. And so I was really lucky when I got on their roster. It started to give me validation from non-trombone sources.”
During her first year with Astral Artists, she played a series of community concerts, over eight shows in five days at various community centers, homes, and other venues throughout Philadelphia.
“And we did one formal recital at Brandywine,” she recalls.” But it was really cool as a trombone player to play a program that many times in a week. We don't get those opportunities. That actually caused a lot of growth for me, like both playing and emotionally how to just play a concert over and over, especially when the audience is informal. I would get live feedback sometimes from folks without a filter, just cheering me on. That was definitely fun.”
In May 2022, Lasch will reunite with fellow Yale alumna composer Reena Esmail for a world-premiere “Sonata for Trombone and Piano” as part of Astral's Micro Commissioning program and part of her larger recital.
“It's been the most intense interpersonal relationship with a composer I've ever had,” Lasch shares. “She's learned the trombone, she truly has. She's asked me for method books, other solos. We would correspond daily for a few weeks where she'd send me music and I'd record it, send it back.”
The preparation for this recital has been more onerous for Lasch, who has just completed her seventh marathon. She finds parallels between the two exercises:
“While there's not necessarily a direct correlation between physically running a marathon and playing trombone, but mentally there is. If you can kind of get past the first dozen miles, you will be able to finish; you won’t quit. And that's what this 75-minute music recital is going to be: a marathon. There will be music making, tough moments, and great expectations but it's also like, you just can't stop. If something doesn't go great, you just gotta keep going.”
Just Keep Going
Lasch–professor, principal trombonist, marathoner–is always on the go. She’s developing her first CD project over the next few months to be released the following year. As the pandemic abates, she is lining up performances including at the International Trombone Festival, which will be held at the University of Central Arkansas (and where she previously has taken home prizes). Her summer has filled up with the DC Trombone Workshop at Shenandoah Conservatory and teaching at Boston University Tanglewood Institute.
Lasch finds comfort in being busy and pushing herself. It’s in the quiet, still moments that she struggles.
“To be honest, the most nerve-wracking part of a concert for me is being in an orchestra after you’ve tuned your instruments, then you sit there, and it's quiet.”
But then the conductor comes out, and Lasch prepares to play.
“Go up to 11 or go home,” Lasch asserts. “That's my M.O.”
