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| 2022 Fall Concert Poster |
The Concord Band opens its 2022–2023 season with a concert themed RVW150 in honor of the 150th birthday of English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. The concert will be held at 8:00 pm Saturday October 22, 2022 at the 51 Walden Performing Arts Center in Concord, presented by Music Director James O’Dell and guest conductors from within the Concord Band.
Ralph Vaughan Williams, an influential English composer, wrote seminal works for twentieth-century concert band. Throughout his career Vaughan Williams drew inspiration from English folk tunes and hymn songs.
A highlight of the program will be Vaughan Williams’ English Folksong Suite led by Assistant Conductor Steven Barbas. This piece is considered to be the first composition written expressly for military band (the English term for a band including woodwinds as well as brass), which has become a staple of the concert band literature. Trumpeter and music educator Cindy Blanchard will appear as Guest Conductor to perform the beautiful Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis, originally written for orchestra and arranged for band by Jay Bocook. The CB Saxophone Quartet will play Vaughan Williams’ Rhosymedre, a prelude based on the Welsh hymn tune by J. D. Edwards. The Quartet will also play "Minuet" from Le Tombeau de Couperin Suite by Maurice Ravel, with whom Vaughan Williams studied in Paris.
Composer Gustav Holst was a lifelong friend of Vaughan Williams since the age of 21. They traveled the English countryside on walking treks, conducted a concert together, and Holst dedicated one of his pieces to Vaughan Williams. Both composers incorporated folk songs into their music. The program features two selections by Holst. His Moorside Suite was originally written for brass band and is arranged for concert band by Denis Wright. Holst’s Fugue a La Gigue was a brass band transcription of Bach’s Fugue in G Major for organ, later arranged for concert band by Michael Brand. Two American composers who pay homage to Vaughan Williams will round out the program with Greensleeves: a Symphonic Setting by Claude T. Smith, and the Lords of Greenwich by Robert Shelton.
Join the Concord Band to celebrate Vaughan Williams’ birthday and enjoy music evocative of the English countryside which inspired these composers. The concert is free with a suggested donation of $10 per person. If you cannot attend in person, the concert will be live streamed, and online donations are gratefully appreciated. Take advantage of this opportunity to hear live music again!
