A musical adventure with the Manawatū Concert Band
The audience will be treated to a musical adventure featuring both new and familiar scores when the Manawatū Concert Band take to the stage for the first time this year.
The award-winning band will play Journey Through Sound: A Musical Adventure, collated by conductor Peter Ellery, at the Speirs Centre at 7.30pm on Saturday.
The programme offers familiar classics from the likes of The Jackson Five, Neil Diamond and the Disney songbook along with scores from the New Orleans jazz and blues scene and a reflective piece that captures the epic grandeur and beauty of Mt Everest.
The band also promises a finale that will send the audience home with a “bounce in their step”.
One of seven clarinet players and secretary for the band, Andrew Griffiths said, this was the first of three concerts that the band usually puts on every year.
He said it was very much a “community band” with players gathered from Palmerston North to Himatangi Beach. “It’s a chance to actually get out and perform and sort of give back to the community.”
The band had been working on their current performance since the start of February and always made sure to get in about 12 rehearsals before showtime, Griffiths said.
“There’s some quite complex music in here, so there’s bits that we do really work our tails off and there’s other bits which are a little bit easier.”
He said a concert band was not like a jazz band, although they do play jazz, it was a whole range of instruments from saxophones to bassoons, oboes to timpanis.
“[The wide variety of instruments] means you can get a really wide range of flavours coming through in the music.”
Griffiths said the main aim was to perform music that was accessible to anyone, of any age.
Tickets are available via Eventfinder or at the door on the day, where it will be cash sales only. Prices range from $20 for adults to $10 for youths and students, while a family pass for two adults and two children is $50. Under-5s free.