The Campbell River Community Band has been tuning up for a fall concert on Wed., Nov. 16.
The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in the multi-purpose room at Carihi high school.
The concert, called Colours of Autumn, will feature music chosen for the fall months of September, October, November and December.
Director Céline Ouellette has used some of the band’s music budget–raised from concerts like this one–to track down some unusual pieces.
The evening will open with a version by Chico O’Farrill of Autumn from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.
As a number of band members play in the Little Big Band, the concert band has prepared the jazz standard Autumn Leaves which features saxophone and trumpet solos.
Siorai September (Gaelic for eternal september) includes poetry, which will be spoken by euphonium player Doug Craig.
Eric Whitacre’s October is the band’s most challenging piece, with its soaring melodies and numerous changes of tempo and mood.
First clarinetist Ted Milbrandt will be the soloist in the evocative and haunting Autumn Soliloquy by James Barnes.
Ghost Dances was inspired by the massacre of Lakota Sioux at Wounded Knee in 1890. It keeps percussionist Ayaz Amlani busy in the back row and demands the utmost concentration by the woodwinds, who must improvise some of their music.
The evening will conclude with a medley of tunes from Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas by Danny Elfman.
The band has been together for fifteen years, mostly under the baton of Ouellette. They rehearse together once a week from September to May.
Tickets for the concert are $5, or $12 per family, and are available from band members or at the door.