Friends of Aldbourne Band came up trumps on Saturday when a brand new soprano cornet was presented to the Band out of funds they raised this year.
The presentation took place at the Vive La France concert kindly supported by Clarke and Rodway, Aldbourne Post Office, Tesco and NFU Mutual.
Concert goers attending Viva La France, held at St Johns Theatre on the Hill, were treated to an airing of Benvenuto Cellini by Berlioz, which is to be performed by the Band at the Spring Festival in Blackpool next weekend.
Other pieces included Softly Awakens my Heart with cornet soloist Richard Hughes and also a superb baritone duet by Lionel Barnes and Ed Latham for Deep Inside the Temple by Bizet. Lionel has been in the band for over 50 years and still enjoys every performance.
The exciting programme was matched by a varied and informative narrative from the Musical Director Dave Johnson.
He also informed the guests that he is doing well on his sponsored diet and will perform the ‘weigh-in’ at the Proms on the Green at 4pm on Sunday 7th August – all monies raised will go towards a new uniform for the Band as the current ones are over 20 years old.
The concert was brought to a rousing climax with a performance of the Finale from Saint-Saens Symphony no 3.
The audience were then treated to an encore of Jacques Offenbach’s gallop infernal in Orpheus in the Underworld… popularly recognized as the ‘music for the French Can-Can’.
