The Earl Cameron Theatre was at capacity for Tuesday night’s concert by Bermuda Brass.

With the concert starting at the family-friendly hour of 6.30pm, there were a good number of children in the audience to hear this quintet’s performing debut.

The first piece, Canzona Bergamesca, by the renaissance composer Samuel Scheidt, was vivid and fanfare-like but also quite modern sounding.

Closely echoing voices, skittish, syncopated passages and well-thought-out dynamics allowed the audience to meet and relish each voice in turn.

The visual beauty of the instruments, the close teamwork and precision delivery of the members and their obvious love and deep knowledge of the music all enriched our experience.

The first set included a soaring Contrapunctus No 1 and 9 from JS Bach’s Art of the Fugue; surely the intellectual high point of his art, masterfully arranged by the quintet and giving added clarity to the work through five rather than one keyboard voice. Quintet No 1 by Russian civil engineer cum brass composer Victor Ewald rounded out the first half, a romantic piece which anticipated film music and echoed Schubert at the same time.

We applauded loudly in local tradition between movements but, to be fair, they weren’t indicated on the programme and raw enthusiasm took over anyway. The second-half highlights included JM Mouret’s Rondeau, which many of us know as the theme from television’s Masterpiece Theatre and Peter Schickele’s Brass Calendar — 12 satirical miniatures, one for each month, ably introduced by audience volunteers Lucas Lightbourne and Emily Ross. My favourite was April (Income Tax Day), a hideous clash of scales rounded by a rude noise from the tuba.

Traditional jazz standards completed a wonderful evening. No wonder the audience gave a standing ovation. We have it! Bermuda’s own top-performing brass quintet!

Bermuda Brass consists of Conrad Roach and Matthew Ross on trumpet, Kent Hayward on French horn, Kevin Hayward on trombone and Kenneth Amis on tuba.