90th Anniversary Celebrations
23/10/11 13:02 Filed in: Concerts
Our 90th Anniversary concert on 15th October was a great success with over 180 people joining us for the celebrations in St Michaels Without.
All advance tickets were sold out in the middle of the preceding week, with just a few tickets available on the door. It was nice to see so many friends and family in the audience, along with a few former members, and others with connections to the band over the years.
The concert was opened by chairman Nigel Green, who welcomed the audience, including The Mayor of Bath (Councillor Bryan Chalker, and Patron of the band), Major Rikki Peters MBE (President of the band) and all of the Vice-Presidents.
The compere for the evening was Loraine Morgan-Brinkhurst MBE, who was presented with a decorative flower arrangement. Throughout the evening Loraine read various reports about the band through the years, including our early contesting successes for which the prize money was £1 and 5 shillings!
The band was conducted by Musical Director Dave Walker, and the proms programme was chosen to bring to prominence the different sections within the band. The concert was opened to the fanfare of Gregson’s Prelude for an Occasion, which was followed by the overture from The Merry Wives of Windsor. The cornet section was first to feature with Cornet Carillon, in which the front row cornets sound like a peal of bells. The swing number Fly Me to the Moon picked up the tempo, and then the horn section had their chance to shine with the intricate Hat Trick. Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral is the grand and stately procession from Wagner’s opera Lohengrin. It has a quiet start, and builds to a triumphant finale. We had chance to play this in Bath Abbey in the summer, and were delighted to repeat this in the delightful acoustic at St Michael’s. The bass section featured next in the light-hearted The Elephant from Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals, in which the bass section waltz along in a style marked Allegro Pomposo. The last piece of the first half was Kurt Weill’s Mack the Knife.
In the interval, the audience had the opportunity to look at a display of photographs, programmes and newspaper cuttings from the last 90 years of Bath Spa Band.
In the second half, the band were joined by the training band, looking smart in the black polo shirts, to give a strong line up of over 50 players! We opened with the salvation army tune March Rejoice, and this was followed by the training band playing the traditional Japanese folk tune Song of the Seashore, which featured the talented young Wesley Downing and was conducted by Rachel Jennings. The trombones came to the fore next with I Will Follow Him from the film Sister Act. Another swing piece came next, with Music to Watch Girls By, made popular by Andy Williams. The last section to feature were the euphoniums and baritones, playing Softly, As I Leave You. The audience had chance to participate as the concert climaxed with the popular last night of the proms sing-along tunes Rule Britannia and Pomp and Circumstance, and there were flags and balloons in the colours of red, white and blue. The concert finale was the 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky, complete with the sound of cannons and bursting balloons.
We would like to thank everyone who made this concert such a success. Our thanks go to the Charter Trustees of the City of Bath for their support; to ICIA at the University of Bath for their support and help in promoting the concert; and to the staff at St Michael’s Without for all the hard work in setting up the church, manning the bar, and staying later than planned to clear up.
See more photos here!
All advance tickets were sold out in the middle of the preceding week, with just a few tickets available on the door. It was nice to see so many friends and family in the audience, along with a few former members, and others with connections to the band over the years.
The concert was opened by chairman Nigel Green, who welcomed the audience, including The Mayor of Bath (Councillor Bryan Chalker, and Patron of the band), Major Rikki Peters MBE (President of the band) and all of the Vice-Presidents.
The compere for the evening was Loraine Morgan-Brinkhurst MBE, who was presented with a decorative flower arrangement. Throughout the evening Loraine read various reports about the band through the years, including our early contesting successes for which the prize money was £1 and 5 shillings!
The band was conducted by Musical Director Dave Walker, and the proms programme was chosen to bring to prominence the different sections within the band. The concert was opened to the fanfare of Gregson’s Prelude for an Occasion, which was followed by the overture from The Merry Wives of Windsor. The cornet section was first to feature with Cornet Carillon, in which the front row cornets sound like a peal of bells. The swing number Fly Me to the Moon picked up the tempo, and then the horn section had their chance to shine with the intricate Hat Trick. Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral is the grand and stately procession from Wagner’s opera Lohengrin. It has a quiet start, and builds to a triumphant finale. We had chance to play this in Bath Abbey in the summer, and were delighted to repeat this in the delightful acoustic at St Michael’s. The bass section featured next in the light-hearted The Elephant from Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals, in which the bass section waltz along in a style marked Allegro Pomposo. The last piece of the first half was Kurt Weill’s Mack the Knife.
In the interval, the audience had the opportunity to look at a display of photographs, programmes and newspaper cuttings from the last 90 years of Bath Spa Band.
In the second half, the band were joined by the training band, looking smart in the black polo shirts, to give a strong line up of over 50 players! We opened with the salvation army tune March Rejoice, and this was followed by the training band playing the traditional Japanese folk tune Song of the Seashore, which featured the talented young Wesley Downing and was conducted by Rachel Jennings. The trombones came to the fore next with I Will Follow Him from the film Sister Act. Another swing piece came next, with Music to Watch Girls By, made popular by Andy Williams. The last section to feature were the euphoniums and baritones, playing Softly, As I Leave You. The audience had chance to participate as the concert climaxed with the popular last night of the proms sing-along tunes Rule Britannia and Pomp and Circumstance, and there were flags and balloons in the colours of red, white and blue. The concert finale was the 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky, complete with the sound of cannons and bursting balloons.
We would like to thank everyone who made this concert such a success. Our thanks go to the Charter Trustees of the City of Bath for their support; to ICIA at the University of Bath for their support and help in promoting the concert; and to the staff at St Michael’s Without for all the hard work in setting up the church, manning the bar, and staying later than planned to clear up.
See more photos here!