Emsworth Concert Band offer spring concert
After a successful Christmas concert, Emsworth Concert Band return now with their spring event.
Band secretary Ian Smith said: “The band are off again up the road to Waterlooville to play in the magnificent hall at Oaklands Catholic School (Stakes Hill Road, Waterlooville, PO7 7BW). We had just short of 175 people at our Christmas concert at the same venue. It was reasonably well supported but we've got plenty of capacity for more audience and it would be lovely if we got a good-sized audience for our spring concert.
“This will our third visit to Oaklands and we are looking forward to returning for our spring concert.
“Our musical director is Warrant Officer Andy Hall who is the bandmaster with the British Army Band at Tidworth. Andy has been Emsworth's MD since 2019 and during his tenure, the band have reached a high standard of performance.
“The programme for our spring concert will include many popular and well-loved melodies from stage and screen and beyond. Our aim is to provide something for everyone from John Williams to Irving Berlin to Neil Diamond. A real cross-section of the musical spectrum.
“As usual there's a huge variety of music in this concert. We have got The Pirates of The Caribbean – The Curse of The Black Pearl and we're also playing a piece by Nigel Hess called The London Eye which is a really lovely piece. We’ve also got Irving Berlin’s Let's Face The Music and Dance which is a complete contrast to Mr Hess and we've also got the greatest hits of Neil Diamond including Sweet Caroline and Beautiful Noise.”
Also included is music from the submarine film Crimson Tide.
The concert date is Saturday, April 18 at 7.30pm. Tickets are £15 with no charge for 16s and under. The ticket price includes a glass of wine or soft drink during the interval.
Tickets can be bought on the door or using Eventbrite at www.eventbrite.co.uk.
Band secretary Ian loves being part of it all: “It is a big ask and people have got busy lives. We require people to commit the time but everybody turns up and people really enjoy it. We all sit down and the baton goes up and off we go. It is wonderful to be playing in a large ensemble. I'm in the back row playing the euphonium. We've got the clarinets and the woodwind and we've got a good line with trumpets and trombones. It's a good mix. It is about 40 of us in the band. I have been in the band for about ten years and it really is just great to make music. I bought myself a euphonium about 25 years ago and I've been playing ever since. It is a challenge to read all the little dots but it's great to be playing together. You have to bring it home and you have to practise. You have to work at you're doing but it's a really nice hobby and a really nice way of spending time with other people.”