King’s and Queen’s Performing Arts Centre
11 May 2014
Conductor: Errol Moore
Guests: Steve Miles (Euphonium), Georgia Gray and Matthew Wilson
SUMMON the Dragon and Land of the Mountain and the Flood opened this first concert in a comparatively unpolished manner after seven months of silence from St Kilda Brass under the leadership of Errol Moore.
However, having got the technical difficulties posed by these first two items out of the way, the band returned to the strengths for which is is known and revered.
Believe Me if all those Endearing Young Charms, Skye Boat Song and David of the White Rock did retore faith in the band’s technical accomplishment and its charms. Guest performers also lifted the event. Accomplished euphonium soloist and former leader for the band, Steve Miles, explored his instrument’s wide range of high and low notes, its sonorous excellence and an exhilarating array of fast trills and runs.
Brillante: Fantasy on Rule Britannia is a particularly good vehicle for a performer of Miles’ truly virtuosic ability.
Guest singers Georgia Gray and Matthew Wilson both have excellent voices and strong control throughout their ranges. Their choices of costumes were nicely in keeping with the wartime era.
However, Gray did not need to use a microphone and her otherwise finely managed performance suffered as a result of being painfully loud.
Band soloists Jessica Schweizer on flugel and Rowena Howard on cornet are to be commended. Special note goes to Ella Cox, whose stories of wartime events were tellingly simple.
The second half of the programme commemorated World War 1 with well-known tunes Colonel Bogey March, Nightfall in Camp and Medley: Oh What a Lovely War, Daddy, Soldier Daddy and Pack up Your Troubles. The band chose the brilliant red and gold braided military uniform of the time.
An encore item of the sweetly romantic Myfanwy rewarded the grateful audience.
Marian Poole
Review taken from the Otago Daily Times (May 12, 2014)