Culford School – April ’24
Ellesmere College – August ’24
Culford School – November ’24
A big thank you to all our visitors to both Culford and Ellesmere in 2024 and we look forward to seeing you all again next year!
April 5th – Culford School
Nearly 70 musicians from across the UK came together to play some exciting new music, at our Easter holiday weekend at Culford School. After the amazing performance of Jose Alberto Pina’s ‘ Ghost Ship ‘ in November, we decided to tackle another of his works ‘The Island of Light ‘. This piece again featured electronic sounds accompanying the band and the three movements, all very different in style, introduced some unusual instructions to the band, including the flicking of reeds! Some of the other pieces tackled during the weekend were ‘ Virginia ‘ by Jacob De Haan, ‘ The Winds of Change ‘ by Randall Standridge (in which the band had a chance to exercise their vocal chords with some singing, ‘ The Complete Harry Potter ‘ arranged by Jerry Brubaker and ‘ Malaguena ‘ by Sammy Nestico.
Many musicians participated in small ensemble rehearsals on Saturday evening, some choosing to perform to fellow musicians while socialising in the bar.
Musicians Gallery
August 16th – Ellesmere College
Photos courtesy: Adrian Snood Photography, Julie Webb, David Bray, Captured in Music
Our 3rd visit to Ellesmere saw the largest group of musicians so far, with an impressive line up of instrumentation. This year we tackled a wide range of music including the challenging but highly effective ‘Dragon Fight’ by Otto Schwarz, ‘Redrock Mountain’ by Rossano Galante and for a bit of fun we also revisited the catchy ‘Japanese Graffiti V’ arranged by Atsuhiro Isozaki.
Our solo item this year was ‘Golden Wedding’ arranged by Johnny Jones and performed impeccably by the talented Dan Kolb.
We also featured our outstanding trombone section in a superb arrangement, by Denis Burton, of ’12th Street Rag’.
We also chose to play ‘Goddess of Fire’ by Steven Reineke, a magnificent programmatic work depicting the many sides of Pele, Hawaii’s goddess of volcanoes.
Finally, we were transported to Scotland and the most moving piece which opens with a haunting soprano saxophone solo, played superbly by Janet Mathews. ‘Perthshire Majesty’ by Samuel Hazo.
Band Rehearsals in Full Swing
The final performance in front of friends and family
Evening Ensembles
Many of our musicians joined in small ensemble informal rehearsals on Saturday evening and then took part in performances to the rest of our musicians in the bar afterwards. This year we were delighted to see all ensembles perform and we had a wonderful variety of music from a trombone quartet, double reed quartet, flute choir, brass ensemble, clarinet choir and saxophone ensemble.
Socialising
Outside of our musical exploits, our musicians had the opportunity for some leisure time including making use of the swimming pool and for those that were lucky enough to arrive early, an enjoyable round of golf at Ellesmere College’s fantastic 9 hole golf course!
Our buffet evening on the Friday was spectacular and the chef this year pulled out all the stops to provide a sumptuous selection of food (we were too busy eating to take any photos!). Of course there was the usual quiz in the bar which kept many people busy during the course of the weekend but everyone had the option to just relax and enjoy rhe company of friends old and new.
Musicians Gallery
November 1st – Culford School
Photography courtesy Julie Webb
Our second visit to Culford, in November, once again attracted a wonderful group of musicians who tackled a varied selection of music. We featured two of Rossano Galante’s works: ‘Victory ‘ and ‘Rise of the Unicorn ‘, the latter being an uplifting sequel to his moving ‘Cry of the Last Unicorn’ . In complete contrast, the band were encouraged to take to the dance floor in James Symington’s catchy arrangement of the ‘Strictly Theme’‘ and explore some tricky Arabic rhythms in ‘Arabesque’ by Samuel Hazo, a piece which opens with an evocative flute solo performed superbly by Andrea Harris. Our solo item this time was a clarinet feature, the ‘Victorian Kitchen Garden’ arranged from Paul Reade’s five movement suite by Denis Burton and performed impeccably by three of our clarinet section, Marcel Webb, Caroline Scotton and Barry Parsons. The stirring ‘Oregon‘, by Jacob de Haan was a fitting way to complete our performance on Sunday afternoon.
Full Band Rehearsals
Saturday Evening – Small Ensembles rehearsals and performances
The ‘Captured in Music’ Bears had some company this weekend in the form of a number of unicorns who made the journey all the way to Culford to hear a piece of music very close to their heart!
