This family-friendly, comedy-filled concert will feature the music of spaghetti Westerns, with soundtracks from A Few Dollars More, Silverado, The Cowboys, and many others. 

Guest artist Good Time Brass from the Wild West of Los Angeles will perform in full cowboy garb, and kick off our evening of rip-roaring Western music! Trumpet soloists Ben Gunnarson and Dr. Ellen Shinogle will face off on Kevin McKee's Under Western Skies. 

Hang onto your hats, because this rodeo is just getting started. See you there!

RSVP via Eventbrite | Share via Facebook

This concert is generously sponsored by Bob Reeves Brass. Learn more about all they offer for brass musicians at www.bobreeves.com!

With fresh tunes, fresh faces, and a beer in hand, Good Time Brass brings a new angle to the brass chamber experience! Based in Los Angeles, Good Time Brass feeds off the musical energy of its city—performing everything from jazz, contemporary classical, pop, and film music. With top-notch musicianship and technical ability, this quintet melds genres and builds on the legacy of Los Angeles brass from Herb Alpert to the Hollywood studios.

Founded in 2022, Good Time Brass has created a space to foster the individual creativity and artistic freedom of its members (Aric Kline, trumpet; Austin Ali, trumpet; Vincent Jurado, horn; Nathan Culcasi, trombone; Sam Adam, tuba). Through years of performances covering a wide variety of venues and audiences, the ensemble has distilled its members' visions into one common goal; at all costs, make it fun!

Notable ongoing projects include featured concerts at Music in Medicine at Ronald Reagan Medical Center, educational performances at Malibu High School, and numerous premieres and recordings of works by contemporary composers. Most recently, the group premiered Austin Ali’s A Cosmic Perspective at the inaugural UCLA Climate Notes Concert. 

Good Time Brass will debut their program Cowboy Bebop, featuring original arrangements of Western soundtracks and contemporary jazz, in Fall 2025.

Ben Gunnarson began his musical instruction on piano at age 7 and trumpet at age 9. After graduating from Blue Valley Northwest High School in Overland Park, Kan. in 2012, he earned his double-bachelor's degree in trumpet performance and music education in 2018 from Indiana University, studying with Joey Tartell and Pat Harbison. He completed his master's degree in trumpet performance at the University of Southern California in 2024 under the instruction of Marine Band alumni Thomas Hooten and Jennifer Marotta.

Prior to joining “The President’s Own”, Ben was a member of the Disneyland Band, the Bay Philharmonic, and the Tony and Emmy award winning show Blast! He also founded the Los Angeles Brass Alliance and was a teacher for the Disney Youth Education Series at the Disneyland resort.

Ben performs with the Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra at the White House, in the Washington, D.C., area, and across the country during the band’s annual concert tour.

Dr. Ellen Shinogle is an international award-winning trumpet performer who has become distinguished in her field as a dynamic entertainer of exceptional artistry. She is the first place winner of both the 2019 National Trumpet Competition Graduate Solo Division and the 2021 Mt. San Antonio College Competition Solo Collegiate Division. Shinogle is also the recipient of the Stanley Wilson Memorial, Mimi Alpert Feldman, and Gluck Fellowship Awards.

She regularly performs as a soloist, chamber musician, jazz musician, and in operas, orchestras, studios, and musical theater productions both internationally and domestically. Shinogle has performed as a guest artist with Seraph Brass, Juneau Symphony’s Holiday Brass, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dream Orchestra, Brighton Symphony Orchestra, New Valley Symphony Orchestra, Downey Symphony Orchestra, Rio Hondo Symphony, Antelope Valley Symphony Orchestra, and Wild Up. She can frequently be heard performing as the principal trumpet in the Santa Monica Symphony, in multiple productions at the Disneyland Resort, SeaWorld, and in films and television shows, such as Jimmy Kimmel Live!

She has contributed her expertise as an adjudicator for the 2021 Women Composing for Trumpet Competition and the 2023 National Trumpet Competition. She has organized and contributed to multiple trumpet composition commissions to further the diversity of trumpet repertoire and has premiered many compositions internationally and domestically. Shinogle is a sought-after instructor and educator who seeks to create educational opportunities for a wide array of audiences.

​Dr. Shinogle is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where she received Bachelor of Music degrees in Trumpet Performance and Music Education and won the Performer’s Certificate of Distinction. She earned her Master of Music degree at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music. Shinogle was a Teaching Assistant of both the Brass Department and Trumpet Studio while pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of California, Los Angeles Herb Alpert School of Music.