Newstead Band are good. They rank as the 76th best band in the world and are North East Midlands Champions for 2023/34. Each year they join us for our, what is now traditional, Christmas concert at Forest Town Arena and they blow the socks off our audience and choir members. It is a great night of festive entertainment in advance of Christmas and tickets are always highly prized.
Consequently, we were honoured that they asked our choir to celebrate their 50th anniversary in a concert at The Palace Theatre, Mansfield. As Martin Heartfield, the band leader and old friend of the choir, said, we in our 80th year represent Mansfield as an icon. So too do Newstead Brass: when we think of a brass band of quality Newstead always comes first.
Brass bands spend so much time perfecting test pieces for national and regional competitions which are sometimes used at concerts. Whilst these pieces require supreme technical skill, the complexities are often lost on an audience, so bands tend to select entertaining and largely familiar music to play at concerts. One look at the programme showed that the concert was going to be a great success.
One of our choristers, Barry Robinson, was talking to audience members after the concert who said that they were ”over the moon with the whole concert.” I know for certain that a few of our choristers were swaying and dancing to La Mer (Beyond the Sea) in the off-stage green room. The beautiful tone of the band, especially the cornet soloist, was breathtaking and to hear the ABBA Goes Brass section was a delight.
Ian Grice, our MD, conducted and presented the choir with skill and aplomb and we sang well; of note was the fantastic Gweddi Affricaniaidd (African Prayer) and Yfory (tomorrow) sung in their indigenous languages, respectively Xhosa and Welsh. Maureen Lockwood is our new accompanist and has been sharing piano accompaniment work with Margaret Ball who retires next month. Maureen made a great job of supporting the choir on her solo debut. Thanks to both Ian and Maureen for their skill and dedication.
The band put in a huge amount of effort to make this a truly unforgettable performance and we enjoyed an afternoon of stunning live brass and choral music to celebrate the band’s 50th anniversary. The Palace Theatre audience had a treat.
an absolutely wonderful experience full of beautiful sounds with a friendly atmosphere, long may be so more for all to enjoy.
Brilliant article interesting and informative 🙂👍