Christmas Concert December 2011

As people arrived at The Evesham Arts Centre on Sunday 4th December our Training Band got everyone in the right frame of mind as they presented music in the foyer. Very well done to them & many thanks!
Then into the main auditorium where the near capacity audience witnessed the Band and their special guests, The Evesham Community Choir, in top form sharing the stage area and with their items inter-mingled. From the opening bars of Troika by Prokofiev it was clear that the Band meant business. The Choir then gave it’s first items and throughout the evening impressed both the audience & the Band alike with their array of music, ranging from Simon & Garfunkel to Rutter. The Band then introduced a more sobering few minutes with their tribute to the men & women of our armed forces in the form of “Benedictus” from The Armed Man (a Mass for Peace) by Karl Jenkins. This featured our Principal Euphonium Paul Horner but with important duet passages with both Byron Tucker and Stephen Lane on flugel & cornet respectively.

“Light as Air”, “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Lightwalk” then followed, the latter (in big band style) featuring Byron Tucker in the flugel brake, played in true professional style.

 Ho! Ho! Ho! What Christmas event is complete without Santa and on this occasion he (aka Stephen Lane) present “Yuletide Gallop” on the post horn. Extremely entertaining & very well played!

The concert concluded with “Santaclaustraphobia” a medley of Christmas songs but presented in the Avonbank style with each section standing to present their solo passages. Never was “When Santa got stuck up the chimney” so apt – ably performed by our Bass Section.

The audience were more than ready for an encore & were certainly not disappointed by “Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree” which sent them home with their feet tapping & wanting more (the true sign of any good menu – we offer our appreciation to our MD Nick Smith!).

The Band gives it’s thanks to FABB and to members wives for their help on the night and for the hard work that went into making this a most enjoyable and successful event.

Leicestershire Brass Band Association Autumn Open Contest

Yet another place in the frame!

Sunday 27th November 2011 saw the Band competing against 7 other bands and winning a very creditable 2nd prize at the Leicestershire Brass Band Association Open Contest held at Loughborough.

Our MD had chosen one of the brass band classics, Eric Ball’s Resurgam. This is a very difficult piece of music and was chosen deliberately both to test the Band at a higher level and to show off it’s finest qualities.

The opening few bars are generally regarded as being extremely testing but  Avonbank got off to an extremely secure start courtesy of the baritone, trombone & euphonium sections with the flugel and solo horn concluding the initial section in fine style (and getting special mention from the adjudicator).

The more rhythmic sections were negotiated fairly well and Stephen Lane, our Principal Cornetist, was complimented on his expressive playing during the long solo passage.

Whilst it’s true that this was not an error free performance the Band acquitted itself very well generally. In particular the adjudicator noted the extremely warm sound and great attention to dynamic contrast.

Having been drawn number 2 we had little option to adjourn to a local pub (local CAMRA pub of the year) and sample a few well earned pints. A most enjoyable & successful day.

Royal British Legion 90th Anniversary concert

Having concluded a busy summer season (including band stand performances in Bromsgrove, Leamington Spa, Evesham & Droitwich) The Band commenced it’s Autumn/Winter program on Friday 14th October with a concert in St Peter’s Church, Bengeworth, Evesham.

This year the Royal British Legion is celebrating its 90th anniversary and Avonbank could not let this pass without giving our own special tribute to this worthy organisation. All proceeds, totalling £474, went to the Poppy Appeal.

The Band was in fine form presenting a variety of music with something to suit most tastes. This included first time performances of the extremely difficult arrangement of “Top Hat, White Tie & Tails”, theme music from the musical Cats and a very fitting finale which combined Auld Lang Syne with The Last Post. Our MD Nick Smith once again came up trumps!