Great Barr Brass bringing another polished performance.
Great Barr Brass was established in the wake of lockdown to gather community brass musicians together for fun, friendship, and fortissimo. That last word is apparently Italian for when trombonists give it the absolute berries.
Andrew Clayton, who moonlights from his work as Director of Music at St Matthew’s Church to conduct the band, has welcomed them to the church for an evening concert with a full and varied programme – everything from traditional band marches and songs from the shows through to a little popular music and folk anthems.
It’s only £5 to get in at 7pm on Saturday 19th October, and certainly not to be missed. This concert will see their very first performance of a piece with bass solo. That’s tuba for those of us who don’t know the difference, and soloist Carl Turner (also of the West Midlands Police Band) has been rehearsing hard to do the piece justice.
Aside from the jokes that he should fly in on a wire from the bell tower, he’s been putting the hours in and it will be a moment to savour. The neogothic church building has a wonderful acoustic for live music, and this is the penultimate gig of the year in their monthly series. On Sunday 20th the band will also be playing at Aldridge Transport Museum’s running day from 1pm. Being a bus and transport museum, there’s a joke in there somewhere about being exhausted, but we know they’ll be revving to go.
Back to the church, sitting on the top of market hill in Walsall town centre, Apollo Academy Youth Orchestra will return this November after their remarkable debut last year. The repertoire will include Borodin and Mussorgsky, and once again the tickets are only £5 a head. Finally, keep your eyes open for Andrew’s regular pub Christmas gigs. The church are carolling in The Wheatsheaf on Wednesday 11th December and The Black Country Arms on Monday 16th. Great Barr Brass will be popping into The Avion on Monday 9th December for carols. All of these events are an 8pm start, but if you want to find a seat we advise early arrival!
