The 5 Browns Classical Music's Irresistible Champions of the Piano Return With a New Recording No Boundaries

CD In Stores April 4, 2006

Premiere New Five-Piano Transcriptions and Music Showcasing Pianists' Extraordinary Gifts, Individually and Together

PRNewswire
NEW YORK
02/01/2006

After a sensational worldwide debut with their self-titled first album, The 5 Browns are back with No Boundaries, their all-new recording for RCA Red Seal. No Boundaries features the five piano virtuosos in a wide-ranging selection of music both familiar and rare. Highlighting the recording, which showcases the five playing together and in various combinations, are spellbinding transcriptions of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, Stravinsky's The Firebird as well as the new work Simple Gifts/Going Home -- variations on Copland's Shaker hymn "Simple Gifts" from Appalachian Spring and Dvorak's "Going Home" theme from his Ninth Symphony.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060201/NYW015 )

No Boundaries is being released on CD as well as Dual Disc. The new Dual Disc format combines audio and video content on a two-sided disc and features music videos of The 5 Browns performing three tracks from the album. The videos were shot outdoors in Utah, with the Browns' five black Steinways in dramatic contrast to the snow-white surface of the Bonneville Salt Flats, framed by a beautiful setting of purple mountains in the distance and a pink desert horizon at sunset. No Boundaries will be available in stores Tuesday, April 4, 2006.

The 5 Browns -- Ryan, 20 years old, Melody, 21, Gregory, 23, Deondra, 25 and Desirae, 27 -- were a great, all-American "story" last year, when the press first learned of their spectacular accomplishments: five attractive and appealing brothers and sisters from Utah who were budding concert pianists studying at the Juilliard School of Music, all at the same time -- a first at the prestigious, century-old school. Their story inspired broadcast appearances on Oprah, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, ABC's Good Morning America, NBC's Today Show, CBS's 60 Minutes and National Public Radio's highly rated classical show Performance Today, and extensive print coverage including The New York Times, the North America edition of Gramophone, People, Parade, USA Weekend, Entertainment Weekly, Time Magazine for Kids, Chicago Tribune, Billboard, New York Post, Los Angeles Times and Sunday London Telegraph.

Guided by their manager Joel Diamond and their parents Keith and Lisa, the Browns' decision to work together, in a bold and utterly original combination of their talents, resulted in a critically acclaimed debut recording that spent 8 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Classical chart and even notched a place in the Billboard Top 200 in its first week of release. An American concert tour brought out audiences of all ages and all types, surprising even the Browns themselves with their enthusiasm and -- perhaps most gratifying -- their youth. The album's successful international release followed, led by showcase performances in Europe and Japan that left audiences and critics alike there cheering.

In their repertoire, style and sound, The 5 Browns stand out individually as well as together. Critics have called Desirae and Deondra a "dynamic duo that exhibits an understanding that verges on telepathy, wrought with enduring seductiveness -- leaving their listeners' jaws on the floor." Gregory is a "real bravura type performer" with a dynamic personality and technique who "whips the audience into a frenzy." Melody's playing is "elegant" and "the most expressive," critics say, as "she presents a plethora of imaginative colorations," and Ryan is an "imaginative storyteller" who "exploits his fluid fingers and instinctive sense of drama."

With a title that expresses everything the Browns feel about classical music and its potential, No Boundaries showcases the individual talents of each of the Browns.

In addition to the three selections arranged for five pianos, the disc includes the two-piano duo of Desirae and Deondra in Witold Lutoslawski's Variations on a Theme of Paganini, the two-piano duo of Gregory and Ryan in "Malaguena" from Ernesto Lecuona's Andalucia Suite, and the trio of Desirae, Deondra and Melody -- six hands, one piano -- in Sergei Rachmaninoff's Valse and Romance. Desirae and Deondra perform as a duet (four hands, one piano) in the "Feria" section of Maurice Ravel's Rhapsodie espagnole.

Gregory, Melody and Ryan are also heard in solo works. Gregory performs Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6 and American composer John Novacek's "Full Stride Ahead Rag." Melody plays the Allegro moderato and Presto feroce from American composer Lowell Lieberman's Gargoyles, Op. 29, and Ryan is heard in the three-movement Danzas argentinas, Op. 2, by the Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera.

The 5 Browns, exclusive Steinway artists, are currently performing to SRO crowds and continue their tour in:

Feb.2, Henderson,Ky (Henderson Fine Arts Center); Feb. 3, Lancaster, PA (American Music Theatre); Feb. 4, Zanesville, OH. (Secrest Auditorium), March 22, Vero Beach, Fl. (Vero Beach PAC); March 29th, Muskegon, MI (Frauenthal Theater); March 30, Macomb, iL, (College Of Fine Arts), March 31, East Lansing, MI. (Wharton Center for Perf. Arts); April 19, Sarasota, Fl. (Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall); April 21, Stuart, Fl. (Lyric Theatre); April 24, Phoenix, Ax. (Desert Ridge Resort & Spa); April 29, Conway, S.C. (Wheelwright Aud.); May 9, Knoxville, Tn. (Tenessee Theatre); May 20, Norwalk, CT. (Norwalk Concert Hall); June 3, Salt Lake City, UT. (Abravanel Hall); June 17, Brevard NC (Brevard Music Center); July 6 Highland Park, Il (Ravinia Festival/Martin Theatre); additional concert dates to be announced soon in Ohio, Mi, Utica NY, Schenectady, NY; Jacksonville, FL., MO and Oh.

RCA Red Seal, Sony Classical, deutsche harmonia mundi, and Arte Nova are labels of SONY BMG MASTERWORKS. For e-mail updates and information regarding RCA Red Seal, Sony Classical, deutsche harmonia mundi, and Arte Nova artists, promotions, tours and repertoire, please visit http://www.sonybmgmasterworks.com/.

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060201/NYW015
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
AP PhotoExpress Network: PRN1
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com

SOURCE: Sony BMG Masterworks

CONTACT: Doreen D'Agostino, of Sony BMG Masterworks, +1-212-833-7576
doreen.dagostino@sonybmg.com; or Kim Jakwerth, of Marleah Leslie & Associates,
+1-323-966-4669, kim@marleahleslie.com

Web site: http://www.sonybmgmasterworks.com/