NEWS RELEASE
ORILLIA SILVER BAND
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The Orillia Silver Band is pleased to announce a fundraising concert for St. James’ Anglican Church, at the church, on Friday, March 23, 2018, 7:30 pm. Tickets – $20 for adults, $5 for students – will be available at the door, reception to follow the concert in Stubley Hall.
“The Band is delighted to be able to perform this fundraiser for the church,” said band music director and conductor Neil Barlow. “St. James’ is a wonderful venue in which to perform. The church recently invited the Band to record a new Christmas CD in the sanctuary. The CD will be released later this year.”
St. James’ Anglican Church is proud to be a strong community partner. As a faith community we are grateful to the Orillia Silver Band for this tremendous fundraising opportunity. The money raised from this event will help the parish continue its work of various social justice and outreach initiatives.
The Reverend Canon John Anderson, the new incumbent of the parish, remarked, “The community of St. James’ is place where people, for a variety of reasons, come and journey. I cannot think of a better way to be on such a journey then when we do so with our new friends in the Orillia Silver Band and hearing their music in our wonderful space.”
The band will kick the concert off with Erik Leidzén stirring march, Manhattan. This will be followed by Philip Sparke’s Barn Dance and Cowboy Hymn. British brass band composer Sparke uses familiar folk tunes to create this energetic dance, but gives them new twists and turns of rhythm and meter.
Halfway through, the cowboys are heard singing in the distance and the dance calms for a moment. Dance interjections cut through the tranquillity, and soon high energy prevails. The Band will round-out the first half of the concert with themes from Antonín Dvořák’s New World Symphony, written in 1893 after Dvořák immigrated to the United States.
The second half of the concert will feature the band’s tenor horn soloist Rita Arendz performing Leonard Ballantine’s His Eye Is On The Sparrow. The band will also perform a second, major work by Philip Sparke, entitled Portrait of a City. London, a vibrant city full of vitality and spirit, is the essence of this three-movement work.
Sparke relays in each movement some of the city's most beloved and fascinating elements. Skyline offers angular motives and a multitude of ideas that coincide well together. As a contrast, In Autumn conjures the quiet of a park on an early fall morning in which a sense of calm prevails. The third movement, Downtown, grabs a piece of city nightlife through vivacious themes and a relentless enthusiasm.
St. James’ is located at 58 Peter St. N. at Coldwater Road. Worship services take place every Sunday at 8, 9 and 10:30 a.m. as well as the mid-week Eucharist on Wednesdays at 10 a.m.
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