Orillia Silver Band concet at Opera House Oct. 28

GRAVENHURST — The Orillia Silver Band will be performing a concert on Sunday, October 28 at 2 p.m. at the Gravenhurst Opera House.

Join the Orillia Silver Band for their Fall Harvest concert Oct. 28.

Tickets $25; $10 for students/children, available from the Opera House Box Office.

The Orillia Silver Band is a British-style brass band with some 35 members.

Formed in 1949, the Band has been entertaining audiences around the region for many years.

The band is conducted by Neil Barlow, well known in Muskoka music and theatre circles.

The band will kick-off the afternoon concert with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Procession of the Nobles.  Written in 1892, the music bursts to life with a rousing brass flourish, soon followed by the processional music. This is music of color and energy.

Through the course of the afternoon, the concert will feature three of the Band’s soloists:

Laura Christie on Trombone performing Newsome’s Tenor Trombone Rag;

Fran Harvey on Cornet playing Siebert’s The Lazy Trumpeter; and

Paul Rayment on Euphonium offering Herbert L. Clarke’s From the Shores of the Mighty Pacific.

“The Band will also be performing a number of works with a swing jazz theme,” according to Barlow: Brazil’s Zequinha de Abreu’s wrote Tico Tico in 1917; the piece has been recorded several times by Ethel Smith, The Andrews Sisters and Carmen Miranda.

The band will offer a couple of Glenn Miller stand-outs — American Patrol and Pennsylvania 6-5000 — and a medley of Henry Mancini’s hits including The Pink Panther, Moon River and Peter Gunn.

Finally, Philip Sparke’s California brass band test piece, Fiesta de la Vida, has a lively Latin style that pays tribute to the state’s Mexican roots.

Christmas Time is Here is the latest Orillia Silver Band CD. It was released this month.

As if that’s not enough, the band released a new CD in October, just in time for the holiday season. Christmas Time is Here with the Orillia Silver Band was recorded last March at St. James’ Anglican Church in Orillia.

The CD features both new and classic Christmas works that have proved popular at our Christmas events.  The title track, from A Charlie Brown Christmas, was written by the great American jazz pianist, Vince Guaraldi.

The CD will be on sale for $15. Plan to start your Christmas shopping early; it will make a great stocking stuffer for music lovers.

Join them at their Gravenhurst concert. You’re sure to be entertained!

For more information, contact band manager Bob Cairns, at 705.259.2446.

Or visit their website at www.orilliasilverband.com