Cory all set for Scottish concerts

Saturday 31 March 2018

For the first time in nearly four years, Cory Band from The Rhondda Valley in South Wales will bring its world-leading entertainment north of the border when it performs two concerts in the next week.

The band, which is currently beginning its eleventh consecutive year as the highest ranked in the world, will perform at Perth Concert Hall on Wednesday 4 April alongside the National Youth Brass Band of Scotland (NYBBS), having performed masterclasses and workshops with the young players earlier in the day. The NYBBS, for which this concert will be the climax of its annual Easter course, represents the best young brass talent in the country and Musical Director of Cory Band, Philip Harper commented: "We were delighted to hear that we could link up with NYBBS at Easter and we’re really looking forward to meeting and working with Scotland’s next generation of brass stars."

Cory has announced its programme which consists of John Williams’ iconic Star Wars theme, some of its recent concert hits such as Valero by James Swearingen, Balkan Dance by Etienne Crausaz, Gøta by Peder Karlsson and the winner of the RWCMD Cory Composition Prize Tarot, Tortuous Tarot! by Andy Wareham which has proved extremely popular with audiences in the last 12 months. There will be two featured soloists, principal horn Ailsa Russell, making a comeback to her home country having left Carnoustie to study music in Cardiff in 2009, and principal cornet Tom Hutchinson who will perform part of Derek Bourgeois’s stunning Cornet Concerto, recent performances of which in Manchester and Bristol were described by reviewers as "frankly unbelievable".

Cory principal cornet, Tom Hutchinson

 

The following day (Thursday 5 April), Cory will travel south to Edinburgh where it will team up with the Champion Band of Scotland, Whitburn, to perform a joint concert in St. Cuthbert’s Church, in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle. Philip enthused: "Having played with the best of Scottish youth, for Cory also to get the opportunity of working with the Scottish Champion band the following day is a very mouth-watering prospect. We’re hoping to make a whole bunch of new musical friends, both within the band, and also the audience."

Cory’s programme for this concert will include the Nordic Polska with which it won the Brass in Concert competition in 2016, as well as well-known concert favourites Mood Indigo by Duke Ellington and Pique Dame Overture by Franz von Suppé. In another link to recently passed Derek Bourgeois Cory will include his humorous Serenade, and the two featured soloists will be baritone player Steve Kane, also returning to his Scottish ancestral roots, and prize-winning euphonium player Glyn Williams. Cory’s finale will be Philip Harper’s vibrant musical fusion of Indian and British music traditions, East Meets West.

This promises to be a fantastic mini-tour for the world’s top-ranked band, and it is hoped that some Scottish band fans will attend both evenings, in the hope that it won’t be another four years before Cory tours to Scotland again.

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Email Nigel Martin: sbbapr@gmail.com