LAKE MACQUARIE PERFORMING ARTS CENTRE, WARNERS BAY
CNL Brass hosted a visit from Tamworth RSL Brass Band on the weekend of 11/12 October. Both bands had lunch together on the Saturday and spent three hours in a combined rehearsal. A social evening, which included dinner, was enjoyed by all.
A final rehearsal on Sunday morning “fine tuned” both bands for the afternoon Concert.
Tamworth RSL Brass Band opened the Program under the baton of Rebecca Sullivan with Oregon, a fantasy which tells in music the story of the development of this American state. Then followed the contrasting Sam Creamer arrangement of Abide With Me. The very lively arrangement of Tijuana Brass changed the mood again. Rebecca finished with the well known House of the Rising Sun.
CNL Brass continued the first half and, under the baton of John Kellaway, opened with the popular Lionel Ritchie number All Night Long. The fourth and fifth movements from Cry of the Celts, Lament and Victory, delighted the audience, as did Jou McDougall’s rendition, on soprano cornet, of the aria from Antonin Dvorak’s opera, Rusalka’s Song To The Moon. CNL finished the first half of the Concert with the Justin Timberlake song, Cry Me A River.
Both bands combined to present the second half of the Concert, opening with The Magnificent Seven, continuing with a medley of tunes from Raiders of the Lost Ark, followed by the highlight of the second half, a selection of numbers from the ever popular The Phantom of the Opera. The Concert concluded with the very lively “tons of fun” Valero.
In all, the audience, many of them Friends of CNL Brass, were exposed to eighteen items, with each drawing warm applause.
Cardiff Brass 