Aylesbury Band and Aylesbury Town Council put on a joint concert on the afternoon of 9th March in St Mary’s Church, Aylesbury. Entrance to the concert was free, but with a collection to raise money to be shared by the Band and the Mayor’s Charity, Carers Bucks. Unusually for our concerts the church was packed, and extra chairs had to be found for latecomers.
The programme consisted entirely of film and TV themes, even Queen in Concert had a film connection through the recent Best Motion Picture winner at the Golden Globes, Bohemian Rhapsody. But the concert started on a mysterious note with music from Jurassic Park by John Williams before breaking into the well known march theme from the film. After this came music from the blockbuster TV series Game of Thrones.
The 1990s BBC TV series about The Victorian Kitchen Garden had a gentle clarinet solo for its theme which became a chart topper for its performer, Emma Johnson. Clarinettist Julie-Marie James performed it here in an arrangement for clarinet and band made by the Band’s conductor for 10 years, Alan Mossford. After Queen in Concert, soloist Erica Miller played alto sax in the Love Theme from The Godfather. Following the foot-tapping Blues Brothers Revue, it was the turn of Alison Swindles to play the oboe solo Gabriel’s Oboe from the 1986 film The Mission, by Ennio Morricone. The first half then drew to a close with a selection from the evergreen Mary Poppins, including Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and A Spoonful of Sugar.
Everyone loves cartoons, so what better way to start the second half than with the Looney Tunes Overture. This and the next 4 pieces were conducted by the Band’s deputy conductor Chris Doyle. His next items were more music by John Williams, in a selection entitled John Williams Soundtrack Highlights, followed by Rey’s Theme from Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. Then after the lively New Hampshire Hornpipe from On Golden Pond Chris finished his session with a selection from The Greatest Showman.
Robert Wicks then returned to conduct The Simpsons, followed by the grand finale, a selection from The Wizard of Oz. Of course the audience demanded an encore, so with the help of the audience clicking fingers and tapping knees to make the sound of raindrops, the band played Singin’ in the Rain.
In all the collection raised £676.20 for Carers Bucks and the Band. Thanks are due to Fr. Doug Zimmerman of St Mary’s for allowing the use of the church free of charge, and to Carl Quaif for acting as compère for the afternoon, and of course to Robert Wicks and Chris Doyle and all the members of the Band who give up their time to make entertaining music.