TURNER – LEA Brass, a trio of high school brass students from Leavitt Area High School, has places to go this winter.

LEA Brass hornist Emily Grant, a junior, will spend the first six months of 2005 in Puerto Allegre, Brazil, as an exchange student of Brazilian customs and language.

LEA Brass members Allison and L.J. Neal will travel to Pasadena, Calif., to represent Maine in the Bands of America Tournament of Roses National Honor Band, marching in the Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year’s Day.

Selected from among hundreds of applicants from across the nation for the Honors Ensemble, sisters L.J. (a trumpet player) and Allison Neal (a trombonist) will spend a week in southern California, rehearsing and performing at the Tournament of Roses Bandfest and Disneyland, in addition to marching in the New Year’s Day parade.

Each of the members has been a serious student of brass instruments since early elementary school, and credit their private teachers, along with school Band Director William Buzza, for much of their success.

Grant, daughter of William and Barbara Grant of Leeds, studies horn with Andrea Lynch of Auburn; Allison Neal is a trombone student of Anita Jerosch of Bowdoinham; and L.J. Neal has studied trumpet with John Furman of Gray for many years. Both are the daughters of John and Robin Neal of Greene.

In preparation for the travel opportunities and to help meet the financial obligations incurred, LEA Brass will perform along with a number of other well-known local musicians in a concert at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 26, at the United Methodist Church of Auburn, 439 Park Ave.

Also appearing in concert will be pianist and songwriter John Milazzo of Auburn, whose debut CD “Dancing with the Moon,” was released in 1998; vocalist Shane McMahon and guitarist Michael Hughes, whose credits include an extended tour with the Dave Mallett Band; guitarist and songwriter Michael Ladd of Wayne, who has performed throughout New England since the release of his CD “Can’t Say Why”; and pianist, vocalist and entertainer Mitchell Clyde Thomas, whose performance credits with the Lewiston-Auburn Community Little Theatre and other area arts organizations are too numerous to mention.

Thomas will serve as master of ceremonies at the event, which will also include performances by the Leavitt Area High School Brass Quintet “High Five.” Suggested donation is $5 per person, $10 per family.

For additional information on sponsoring the Neals at the 2005 Tournament of Roses Parade, contact Chuck Henson at Bands of America Inc., 800-848-2263.