Denis Colwell Denis Colwell is Conductor and Music Director of the River City Brass Band. He joined the ensemble in 1982 as a cornetist and was subsequently promoted to assistant principal solo cornet. In 1991, founder Robert Bernat named him Associate Conductor of the River City Brass Band. Colwell assumed all conducting duties in May of 1994 and the responsibilities of Music Director were added six months later. In addition to his leadership of the River City Brass Band, Colwell is an Associate Professor of Music at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where he is Music Director of the Carnegie Mellon Wind Ensemble. He was Assistant Head of the Department of Music from 1988 to 1995. A Pittsburgh native, Denis studied trumpet performance both as an undergraduate and graduate student with Carnegie Mellon's renowned trumpet professor, Anthony L. Pasquarelli. For nearly a decade, he was a member of the award-winning Carnegie Brass Quintet. Colwell was a founder of the Carnegie Mellon Youth Brass Band and the River City Youth Brass Band and has served as conductor of both ensembles. At Carnegie Mellon, Colwell produced and hosted the classical music channel programs on US Airways In-Flight Audio Entertainment, heard worldwide on US Airways flights. Colwell's first CD recording with the University's Wind Ensemble was hailed as "...one of the best band recordings in recent years..." by the American Record Guide (March/April, 1996) and he recently completed the production of a second CD with that ensemble. His recordings with the River City Brass Band include “Christmas!”; “Big Band Brass,” a swinging tribute to the music of the big band era; “Heartland,” a recording of RCBB commissioned works; “All American,” RCBB’s first collaboration with Summit Records; and the recently-released “Polished Brass” a collection of classically-flavored selections.