Magnifique! - Enderby Youth Brass Band celebrates very successful French tour.
Seven encores and standing ovations
The Enderby Youth Brass Band have just returned from a whistle-stop tour of the Vosges region of Eastern France, playing three highly acclaimed concerts over Easter, in the towns of Rambervillers, Vittel, and Remiremont.
They were invited by their good friend, Pierre Marie Budelot, who is Musical Director of the Brass Band de Remiremont.
Brass bands are something of a rarity in France, but Pierre Marie is a great enthusiast for the genre, having previously established a Brass Band in nearby Sagona. The Remiremont Brass Band accompanied the Youth Band at two of the concerts.
The audiences were therefore delighted to have the opportunity to see and hear an English Brass Band - they were billed as “Le Brass Band anglais” - and Enderby Youth certainly did not disappoint them, playing varied selections from their recent award-winning contest performances, as well as old favourites.
The fast-paced ‘Kalinka’ was a particular favourite of the audiences, as well as ‘African Funk’, in which the Band sang in French.
Simon Reeds, of Blaby, a former Youth Band member, now studying French at university, valiantly took on the role as Master of Ceremonies at all three concerts, and his fluent French commentary and introductions were much appreciated by the local audiences.
At the ‘Maison du Peuple’ in Rambervillers the audience would not let the Band off the stage until they had played three encores, whilst at the ‘Alhambra’ in Vittel there were standing ovations and a further two encores had to be played to satisfy the crowd.
The final concert, in Pierre Marie’s home town of Remiremont, was performed to a packed house in the town’s Cultural Centre, and again two encores had to be played – “Magnifique!” declared the audience as they departed, after cheering the Band to the final echo.
The evident enjoyment with which the Band played was thoroughly appreciated by all the French audiences.
But the trip, albeit short, was not all about playing music - the Band fitted in trips to the historic city of Nancy, and the delightful lakeside town of Gérardmer, where pedalos were hired and spiritedly raced across the lake.
Enderby Youth Brass Band will be hosting a visit to Leicestershire by the Remiremont Brass Band, in August, when they will repay the generous hospitality of their French hosts, and several joint concerts will be performed locally – watch out for further details on the band's events page or the Enderby Eye.
Videos of some of the Band’s performances in France will also be on their YouTube channel shortly.
| 
