Last Sunday saw Otterbourne Brass’s first concert appearance of 2016. With the first three months of the year dedicated to the two contests the band have competed in, it was nice to have a change of scene and put on a great concert. In addition, the concert saw a return to one of our favourite venues, Chandlers Ford Methodist Church, the first time we have played there under our new MD, Melvin White.

As well as the concert, the band is busy preparing for the SCABA Entertainment Contest at the end of the month, and as such the programme contained some of the music we will be playing at this competition. We opened with Steve Sykes’s exciting Firedance, before featuring our first soloist as Amelia Young played the gorgeous flugelhorn solo Eyes of a Child. We then continued with an American circus march, Emblem of Unity, before the rest of the programme was loosely held together by Melvin’s “song and dance” theme. This saw us play such popular favourites as Singing in the Rain, Let’s Face the Music and Dance, and selections from both Porgy & Bess and My Fair Lady.

There were also several other soloists throughout the afternoon. Bernie Ralph on tenor horn played an arrangement of Laughter in the Rain by Neil Sedaka, and our principal cornet Sonja Charters played Ennio Morricone’s beautiful music from the film Cinema Paradiso. After the interval we featured some members of the lower band, as Ian Yardley gave an entertaining performance of Teddy Bear’s Picnic on tuba, before Nick West added a touch of sheer class with the trombone solo Stardust. The final soloist was principal euphonium Graham Jones, with a wonderful performance of Michelangelo. All the soloists were on top form and they were certainly the stars of a great concert.

The appreciative audience were as delighted with the concert as the band were, and we look forward to our future engagements. After the competition, our next concert appearance is in Otterbourne Village Hall on Sunday 12th June.

Article by Will Wilkins