Part performing ensemble and part educational project, the National Brass Ensemble is drawn from the ranks of brass players in major American orchestras. When Michael Sachs became principal trumpet of the Cleveland Orchestra in 1988, he began to have conversations with Chicago Symphony second trumpet Michael Mulcahy, and the result was a National Brass Symposium held in Atlanta in 2011 and 2012. From those events developed what was, at first, called the National Brass Ensemble Project, launched in June of 2014. The project was launched with a concert featuring music by Giovanni Gabrieli. The same program was conducted by Joseph Alessi and released in 2015 under the title Gabrieli. The group reunited and presented a concert at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco. The conductor this time was Eun Sun Kim. This program was recorded live, and the results were released in 2023 under the title Deified.