Tuba players uniting at annual Holiday TubaFest YYC [Video]

The Holiday TubaFest YYC is a celebration of all things tuba and is a gathering of players from 12 years old and up, of all abilities, for an afternoon of Christmas music.

Nathan Gingrich, band and jazz music director at William Aberhart High School organizes the one-day event.

Gingrich, who brought it to Calgary in 2008, says it’s been a popular holiday gathering all over North America for the last 50 years.

“We were probably 17 or 18 tubas that year and since then we’re regularly about 100 to 120,” he said. “It’s the largest of its kind in Canada, (and the sound created is) rich, dark, warm, you can kind of bask in the sound,. It’s awesome.”

Gingrich says tuba players are relegated to the back of the orchestra, but at TubaFest, they’re front and centre.

“They’re often the accompaniment instrument,” he said. “They’re laying down the foundation, the …