The Band returned to Eaton Bray in Bedfordshire on 12th January for an afternoon concert marking the New Year. This has been an annual event since 2014, and the gratifyingly full church suggested our concert is still popular. This year our Musical Director Rob Wicks shared the conducting with our new assistant conductor Chris Doyle.
Rob Wicks directed the first half, opening with Strike up the Band by Gershwin. Music by Glenn Miller followed in Big Band Classics, then John Barry’s score for the film Out of Africa, and Finnegan’s Wake by A J Potter. A slow interlude was provided by Hymn Song of Lowell Mason before the jollity of Jupiter from The Planets by Gustav Holst. The next piece conjured up Argentina with the tango Por Una Cabeza, and the first half finished with the last part of Armenian Dances by Alfred Reed.
After the interval Chris Doyle took to the podium to conduct a selection from The Greatest Showman and music from the films Titanic and The Little Mermaid. Rob Wicks returned to take us to Spain with Malagueña, followed by Singin’ in the Rain complete with some sound effects from the audience making the sound of raindrops.
With the end of the concert approaching it was time for some music traditionally played at the New Year, starting with Tritsch Tratsch Polka by Johann Strauss, followed inevitably by The Blue Danube.
That was the end of the programme, but the enthusiastic applause from the audience meant we had to play an encore, so Rob Wicks conducted the Radetzky March by Johann Strauss Snr. So it looks like we may be invited back next year.