Concert: The 5 Browns

My family went out to see the 5 Browns in concert this evening. The Browns are Desirae, 26, Deondra, 24, Gregory, 22, Melody, 21, and Ryan, 19. They all play piano, together, each on an individual piano. It's quite impressive. You can hear them on their website, but it's definitely more impressive live.

Their quintet pieces included Stravinsky's Firebird, and Bernstein's West Side Story, and an combination of "Simple Gifts" from Copeland's Appalachian Spring and "Going Home" from the New World Symphony.

Gregory, Melody, and Ryan soloed. Gregory played a crazy Superstar Etude No. 1 - a tribute to Jerry Lee Lewis by Aaron Jay Kernis - and Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6. The sisters played a piece on one piano, written by Rachmaninov originally for 3 sisters to play together. They played with violinist Bryan Hernandez-Luch, Desirae's husband, in the beautiful "Aquarium" movement of The Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saëns

How did they get to be good enough to be in the Billboard classical top ten for the 50th consecutive week? They started the piano at age 3, studied hard (their own choice, not from excess pressure from their parents), and attended Julliard together. The lucky kids have 10 Steinway Grands at home, 5 for practicing together (4 hours a day during summer) and 5 for individual practice (another 4 hours).

As an encore, they played Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee, possibly their best piece. To not play it at the concert would have been like Panic! at the Disco not playing "Time to Dance" in their show (true story.. I was mad).

The Browns produced a self-titled album last year and just released their second, No Boundaries. They say No Boundaries is even better, but the first contains the Flight of the Bumblebee. Both are available in a dual-disc set with DVD.

Check their tour page regularly at the5browns.com. If they don't have a show near you, I expect that dates are being added on a regular basis.