4th Annual Festival of Brass
The fourth Festival of Brass got off to a great start at the end of October when the Peebles Burgh Silver Band and their conductor Alan Fernie were the guests. This was a particular thrill for our principal euphonium Sue Smith who is a former member of the Peebles Band and for Steve Robson who was tutored by Alan Fernie for four years while he was taking his degree. Map reading is obviously not one of the strengths of the Scots as they decided to place their faith in satellite navigation and got lost somewhere on Cockfield Fell. However all was well in the end and the Peebles Band got the concert under way with a performance of Eric Ball’s ‘Star Lake’. This was followed by a superb rendition of The Proclaimers 2007 rock anthem ‘I’m Gonna Be (500 miles)’ and rounded off with a compilation of Broadway melodies. The second act was performed by Stanhope Band before the two bands came together for a finale which included ABBA Goes Brass and The Ashokan Farewell, both fine arrangements by Alan Fernie. Two full bands provided the opportunity for Steve to include two great percussion pieces Brazil and African Funk in the programme, only for him to find that Peebles were going to be without their whole percussion section on the day. Not to be daunted, at short notice Steve assembled his own group of shapely shakers (Liz Gill, Karen Evans, Margaret Mavin and Megan Evans) to take their place. We hope that our Fossils enjoyed the evening as much as Band and we look forward to joining with Peebles again on their home turf later in the year, always supposing we can find our way there.
Our second concert, at St John’s Chapel Town Hall was another joint venture with the Weardale Tappers directed by the inspirational Violet Mann. Violet has raised thousands of pounds for charities and on this occasion she offered to donate the proceeds to the Band’s building fund. Like the Band the Tappers draw upon the huge depth of musical talent in Weardale and we were entertained by dancers from the age of four to sixty-four. Between acts by the Tappers the audience was introduced to a newly formed brass quintet, ‘We’re Brass’, who were making their début performance. We’re Brass consist of Steve Robson (tuba), Sue Smith (euphonium), Jeremy West (tenor horn) Ray Gill (cornet) and Michael Evans (cornet). Michael is principal cornet for Bearpark and Esh Band but regularly appears to help out at Stanhope. They played a mixed programme including Gershwin, the haunting Pavane from Faure’s Requiem, and The AdamsFamily specially and brilliantly arranged for ‘We’re Brass’ by Monti (Alan) Beaumont who was there with his family to hear it. To complete the evening We’re Brass and the Tappers came together for a completely unrehearsed ‘Can Can’.
The final concert of the Festival was our own Fossils Celebrity Concert to which we had managed to attract David Childs, probably the best euphonium player in the world. David was sounded out at the Summer School in Swansea, where he tutors our young players, and he was only too pleased to make a return visit to Stanhope, the scene of one of his earliest performances, at the age of 17, with his father Robert. The band played magnificantly and there were many highlights including the thrill for Sue, Seb and Harriett of playing a euphonium quartet with the maestro. To top it all the audience was privileged to hear David’s performance of The Hot Canary which a fortnight previously had won him the title of best soloist at the Sage Gateshead.