From Kutztown University
The renowned Viennese septet, Mnozil Brass, will make an appearance at Schaeffer Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 2, as part of the KU Presents! Performing Artists Series. The group is known for its wildly diverse repertoire, its exquisite playing, and a sense of humor that has earned the band the title “The Monty Python of the musical world.”
Tickets for the Mnozil Brass are $44.00 for adults, $42.00 for seniors, and $19.00 for KU students. Tickets can be purchased by visiting the KU Presents website or by calling the KU Presents! Box Office, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday, at 610-683-4092. Established to be the center of cultural life at Kutztown University, KU Presents! serves the campus and community by bringing world-class live arts that entertain, educate, and enrich.
Imagine combining the Canadian Brass with touches of P.D.Q. Bach and sketch comedy. Add to the brew a repertoire that mixes “Bohemian Rhapsody” with the “William Tell” Overture; Harry James’ Concerto for Trumpet with James Bond music; Viennese “schlager” music (light, modern, popular or folk styles) with “The Blue Danube” — you get the idea. Nothing is beyond Mnozil Brass, and everything is a surprise.
The ensemble took the name “Mnozil” from the now-closed Mnozil Gasthaus, a pub located in the heart of Vienna, across from the University of Music and Performing Arts, where the founding members used to gather and play. Mnozil Brass was born in 1992 and quickly became popular in Austria, and then across Europe and most of the world.
Three of the founding players are still part of the group: trumpeters Thomas Gansch and Robert Rother, and trombonist Leonhard Paul. The newer members have been on board since 2004: trombonists Gerhard Fussl and Zoltan Kiss, trumpeter Roman Rindberger, and tuba player Wilfried Brandstotter. They will be performing a program commissioned by the Viennese Johann Strauss II Bicentenary Festival, which was celebrated throughout 2025 in various venues throughout the city.
Simply titled “Strauss,” the program honors the worldwide superstar known as “The Waltz King.” Along with some of the familiar waltzes that captivated audiences during the 19th century, but also other music from that time, said Rindberger, in a recent interview from his childhood home in Zell am Moos, northeast of Salzburg, Austria, where he was vacationing.
“At that time, Vienna was a city of two million people — it’s 1.8 million now — and they had amazing venues for playing Strauss music live for 5,000 people, that don’t exist anymore,” Rindberger said. “Who would do that nowadays?”
For variety, they will play other pieces from the same era, including music by the late-Romantic composer Richard Strauss (unrelated to Johann). Opera lovers can delight in the sublime orchestral suite from “Der Rosenkavalier,” arranged for brass septet. And there will be more surprises, of course.
Rindberger never imagined he would wind up in an ensemble such as this one. As a child, he followed in the footsteps of his trumpet-playing father, joining him to play in the local village band. But at 17, he enrolled in the venerable Mozarteum University in Salzburg. After two years, he had to take a hiatus during which he rehabilitated his flawed embouchure with the German trumpeter and technical specialist Malte Burba. He later graduated and went on to earn a master’s degree from the City of Basel Academy in Switzerland. He received a stipend to play with the Zurich Opera as part of his training and then landed the opportunity of a lifetime to play in the world-famous Berlin Philharmonic; later, he became a soloist in the orchestra of the Wiesbaden Opera House.
Then, in 2004, Rindberger was approached by Fussl and Gansch with an offer to join Mnozil Brass. At the time, he said he was ready for a change and decided to give this new adventure a try. After hearing them play, “I was convinced this could be something really extraordinary,” he said. “I loved the energy of this group. The first time I played with them, I felt this rush of energy going off the stage into the audience. Only in the Berlin Philharmonic did I get to play as loud as I could, because the strings were so full and strong” (in most situations, the brass section has to tone it down so as not to overwhelm the other sections).
“I never planned for or thought I would play in a brass ensemble,” he said. “I was always going for an orchestra career.”
What makes Mnozil special, he said, is that “everyone has some really special skills. It makes us quite flexible in terms of playing different styles and creating different atmospheres.” And, as a member of this unique group, Rindberger gets to use his singing skills and do some comedy as well.
He has even been able to have a Schagerl piston trumpet custom-made to fit his specific needs; in fact, all seven Mnozil members have worked with the manufacturer in this way (brass players in the audience may notice that the instruments look a bit different from those they are used to seeing).
Mnozil Brass has delighted audiences everywhere with their artistry and antics, which means constant travel and playing 60 to 80 shows each year. Rindberger, who has a wife and three children, said that while it was exciting at first, it is more difficult now, but he is completely happy once he is onstage. When he is home in Vienna, he also teaches in the master’s program at the university.
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