joins Upper Canada Brass for an incredible evening of “brilliant” brass playing.
Tickets NOW on sale! PURCHASE HERE
St Mary’s Anglican Church, 10030 Yonge Street, Richmond Hill
Sponsored in part by
Our 2019-2020 season continues with our concert “Brass-ing Off!” The Band will be playing popular brass band repertoire such as “Cornets Wild,” previewing our North American Brass Band Association competition music, along with selections from Canadian composers – Howard Cable’s “The Banks of Newfoundland” and James Gayfer’s “Canadian Landscapes.” We also have a wonderful surprise in store, so be sure to save the date! Come back soon for more details…..
We’re taking our “Impressions!” concert on the road heading North!
So if you cant make it out on October 25th, make plans for November 2nd.
Details at our FB Page – https://www.facebook.com/events/377426743146006/
Our 2019-2020 season begins with our concert “Impressions!” The Band will be playing popular Brass Band repertoire such as Paul Lovatt-Cooper’s “When Thunder Calls” and Canadian Composer Kevin Lau’s “Impressions” and much more! In addition we’ll be featuring 2 young cornettists!
For more details visit us on FB https://www.facebook.com/events/493704961470112/
If you’re a brass player or a percussionist, come join us in some fun music making – no pressure allowed! See our FB page for details. https://www.facebook.com/events/2375127829395493/
We’re back from Fort Wayne, and wish to thank everyone for their support. We’ve got repertoire from our Fort Wayne competition, Canadian repertoire – Thy Grand Redemption by Marcus Venables and Juno 1944 by Ty Watson, as well as a fun take-off from the 1996 film Brassed-Off written by Dan Price, and much more.
We made it and Friday was very hectic!
First thing in the morning we loaded the percussion into Embassy Theatre for the 10pc Ensemble Class – we were the second group to perform! (no one likes being first). Our reward? Kewl!
Immediately afterwards was our group photo with one awesome photographer, Brad, from Performing Arts Photography. If you follow this link you’ll see the quality of what he and his team do! https://www.performingarts.photography/f88823210
Afterwards a quick dash to our rehearsal venue to get rid of “road noise” and do a bit of dusting before our afternoon performance in the Embassy Theatre!
Lunch was for some none, for others normal – but by 1pm we started into the “competition flow” meaning that we began by placing our instrument cases in the assigned room, then followed a volunteer down 6 flights of stairs (the little elevator for the bigger instruments) to the warmup room, then through the “catacombs” (the windy, twisty halls of the basement), to back stage.
Then! it was show time!!
Many of the musicians were a little uncomfortable with seeing a camera on stage, but that soon faded as the music began. At one moment it felt as if the world was slowing down, then shortly thereafter, it was over! A wonderful performance by all. Yes – quite tired, but so glad to hear that we moved up from bottom 3rd of the section to the middle 3rd!
The remainder of the weekend was being Band Geeks! Lots of great bands to listen to and lots of trades with instruments and music!
Cant wait to see what next year’s NABBA competition brings!
Our next event? This Friday, the 12th at St Mary’s – come here the repertoire we did in Fort Wayne and more!
OUR NEXT CONCERT – Friday 26 October 2018, 7:30 pm!
featuring Upper Canada Brass – a full size British-style Brass Band.
Repertoire to include:
Fall Fair – Godfrey Ridout (Canadian)
Great North Overture – Kevin Lau (Canadian)
King of Diamonds Overture – Calixa Lavallee (yes – the composer of our National Anthem)
Ex Terra Lucem – Jonathan Bates (UK)
Fire in the Blood – Paul Lovatt-Cooper (UK)
and much more!
It’s been an exciting 2018 so far and to finish off before the summer, this Sunday (3 June at 3:pm) our “Brit-10-ish” will conclude with a special concert as guests of the Collier Street Music Program.
It will be an exciting afternoon of 
new music – a Canadian Premiere of “The Crossing” by Canadian composer Max Williams; we’ll also feature two young musicians from our community – David Hunter on French Horn, and Mia Legge on Cornet; more Canadian music; and other repertoire that you will love – a wonderful pot-pourri – something for everyone!
Looking forward to seeing you!
It’s with sadness that we say goodbye to 2017! But what a year!
It began with commissioning a wonderful Canadian composer Len Ballantine (Len Ballantine Music) for our British-Style Brass Band 10-pc ensemble “Brit-10-ish”. The result was “Agawa Impressions” – a wonderful work of 4 vignettes based on the stunning vistas of the Agawa Canyon north of Lake Superior inspired by the paintings by Canada’s “Group of Seven”. Our premier performance was in March at the North American Brass Band Association Championships in Fort Wayne Indiana where we were recognized with a 3rd place finishing. What a way to celebrate being Canadian performing a Canadian composer about a Canadian landscape and for Canada’s 150th Anniversary!
April was a busy month with being part of Barrie’s Collier Street United Church’s Palm Sunday Ministry of Music, on the 9th. A lovely lunch was provided us by the Church Choir, as that afternoon we were the guest artists of Collier Street Concert Series with a full programme where we performed the Canadian premier of the “Agawa Impressions” as well as other Canadian repertoire.
Two weeks later ALWM was the host ensemble of the Canadian Band Association (Ontario Chapter) 2nd Annual Community Brass Band Weekend. We had lots of fun making music with 40 other brass players with rehearsals all day Saturday and then performing a concert on the Sunday.
There were very few musical ensembles that didn’t pay tribute to Canada. In June ALWM-5 were guest artists of the Barrie Concert Band’s “Made in Canada” Concert to a packed house.
July was quiet with August providing music for a friend’s birthday at the prestigious Royal Canadian Military Institute in downtown Toronto.
Then came a new audience and a new venue in September – Tollendale Village. Our ALWM-11 (orchestral brass) took to the stage at the Meeting Place with coffee and cookies with the audience afterwards. They enjoyed our performance so much that within the week we were booked for 2018!
And as can be expected musicians get really busy between mid-November and Christmas time. Many of our members were involved with dozens of other concerts, but our ALWM-11 were honoured to collaborate with the Orillia Vocal Ensemble in “Christmas Voices” with all proceeds given to The Emergency Baby Needs Depot located at the Orillia Early Years Centre. Over $6000 was raised – what incredible hearts! And what a way to end an incredible year!
What’s for 2018? Watch and see!
