The Annapolis Brass Quintet is notable for its founding of the International Brass Quintet Festival in Baltimore, Maryland, which became recognized as a major forum for brass chamber music. A major highlight of the 1989 festival was the combined appearance of both the East Berlin Brass Quintet and West Berlin Brass Quintet with the ABQ two months before the Berlin Wall toppled, a historic collaboration both musically and politically.

The International Brass Quintet Festival and Symposium presented over 200 free public concerts and conducted workshops and seminars for students and professional brass players from 1980--1992