Enderby Bands' Concert at the Parish Church

World Premier of new composition

Three of the Bands from the Enderby Band Organisation took part in an excellent Concert at Enderby Parish Church on Saturday 25th April.

An almost-full house enjoyed an evening of Brass Band music, both old and new.

The Enderby Youth Brass Band, conducted by Trevor Hounsome, opened the Concert with their stirring arrangement of "Army of the Nile". Trombonist Luke Hillman was the superb soloist in J.A. Greenwood’s "The Acrobat", a well-known, but very difficult piece for the soloist, but Luke played it with confidence.

After the South African National Anthem, "Nkosi Sikelele" there was the world premier of a brand new composition by Robert Hunt, a resident of South Africa and a friend of Band MD Trevor Hounsome.

Robert was a session musician in the U.K, and then played on cruise ships, and with the Pasadena Roof Orchestra, and is now a composer with the South African Broadcasting Company.

Robert’s composition is titled "District Six", after an inner-city area of Cape Town which became infamous in the apartheid era, but which has more recently been returned to its former residents.

It is a challenging piece, but was well interpreted by the Band, and the composer, having viewed the performance on the You Tube website commented "Well done everyone - great, thanks!"

Rounding off their performance with "African Funk" and the theme from "Zulu", the Youth Band then gave way to the Enderby Junior Band, conducted by Sam McClumpha, who gave the audience much to enjoy with performances of "Marching Johnny" and "Frere Jacques Swings", amongst others.

After the interval the Enderby Concert Band took the stage with five numbers, including Lennon and McCartney’s "When I’m 64", and "Men of Harlech", arranged by Gordon Langford.

Following a splendid piano solo by Tom Nelson, playing Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez" (also known as "Orange Juice", and a Brass Band favourite), the Massed Bands of the Enderby Concert Band, Enderby Youth Band and Enderby Junior Band brought the Concert to a close, culminating in an audience-pleasing rendition of the "Floral Dance".

The next major concert by all five bands in the Enderby Band Organisation is on Saturday 9th May at St James the Greater, London Road, Leicester, from 7.30 pm.