The River City Brass Band opened its 2007-08 season Thursday in the Byham Theater, a more intimate venue than its previous home at Heinz Hall that allowed the group's warm sound to fill the smaller space nicely without becoming too large or brittle.

Music director Denis Colwell led his band in a varied program that introduced the audience to some of the new band members and featured many of its principal players.

Six new members made their debuts, including tubists Velvet Brown and Carson McTeer. Featured as a tuba duo, the pair traded musical barbs in a witty arrangement of Irving Berlin's "Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Lower)." As the group's new principal tuba, Brown showed off the tuba's lyrical qualities in its upper register, while McTeer emphasized the instrument's bottom pedal register. In another twist on familiar tunes, the entire tuba section was featured as the "piccolo" soloists in the concert's encore, "Stars and Stripes Forever."

Although not featured as a soloist, new principal trombonist John Olsson was a welcome addition. He and the rest of the trombone section carried the band through a convincing rendition of the Tommy Dorsey tune "Opus One," briefly transforming the aura and atmosphere of the Byham Theater into that of a USO dance hall.

Veteran flugelhornist Drew Fennell gave a thoughtful and engaging solo performance of Gerard Fahy's "Magh Seola." Best known for his "Lord of the Dance" arrangements, Fahy's composition achieved timbral interest through accompanimental gestures in the euphoniums and baritones, muted cornets and the percussion's glockenspiel and triangle. The ensemble artfully realized this timbral backdrop, supporting Fennell's musically satisfying vibrato and phrase ending decays. Fennell's arranging skills were displayed with the band's performance of his transcription of Kurt Weill's "September Song."

Percussionist Philip Webster brought his xylophone to the front of the stage as the featured soloist for "Helter Skelter" (not a cover of The Beatles' song) and "Knockin' on Wood." Webster incorporated a coffee can and bicycle horn (among other instruments) into his percussive palette for an unannounced encore performance of the playful "Xylophonia."

Although Webster's fellow percussionist Richard Parsons remained physically behind the ensemble at his drum set, he played a pivotal role in driving the band through the night's big-band selections, featuring cornetist Ryan Spacht. "Alabamy Bound," "Whoopin' Blues" (arranged by Duquesne faculty member Mike Tomaro) and "Traffic Jam" all benefited from Pearson's kicks, fills and front-end beat.

Bernard Black set the standard that the other soloists matched with his virtuosic performance of "Concert Etude." A tour de force work for the cornet soloist, Black made seamless transitions from athletic gestures requiring a light triple-tongue articulation to those needing his lyric and nuanced singing style.

The dynamic control of the ensemble as a whole was brought to the fore in arrangements of "Robin Hood," "Los Hermanos de Bop," "Superman," "Gaelforce" and Bach's "Little Fugue in G minor."