26 Jan 2004

Australia Day Ceremony on Beacon Hill

Angry Anderson made an inspiring speech to the assembled crowd.

16 Nov 2003

Concert on Observatory Hill, Sydney

We were engaged by Sydney City Council to perform a concert at the rotunda on Observatory Hill, near the Observatory at Millers Point. It was held on a Sunday afternoon at 5pm; the concert was based on a "Stage and Screen" theme. Entry was free. Unfortunately, a torrential downpour ended the concert halfway but we will back in the future for a repeat performance!

30 Sep 2003

WCB does it again at the NSW Solos Championships

At the NSW State Solos Championships in Sydney in September 2003, Warringah Concert Brass players secured 5 first places. Kim Lovell won the Junior Tenor Horn section with 86 points. Tim Robards won his Open Trombone section also with 86 points. The Open Duet was won by our Ben Fixter on Flugel and John Saunders on Euphonium with 88 points. Warringah also won the Open Quartet section with 90 points. As a coup de grace, our two entries in the Open Ensemble section won both the first and second places, with 88 and 86 points!

13 Sep 2003

NSW State Contest

We contested in the NSW State B-Grade Competition today. The Test piece was Gilbert Vintner's "Spectrum, and we played the following elective pieces..

• Sacred item - "I know thou art mine" - Leonard Ballantine
  
• Own Choice Test - "Paganini Variations" - Philip Wilby
  

Remarkably, the contest was won by a band from the rural City of Gunnedah, 250 miles Northwest of Sydney, against some very strong competition. This is a relatively young band of talented enthusiastic musicians, and this was their first contest at B-grade level. They all played their hearts out in George Lloyd's "Royal Parks" for their own choice piece, and they walked away with the B-grade trophy, six points ahead of the runners-up, who were Warringah Concert Brass.

B-grade in NSW is an interesting scene at the moment with a number of excellent bands led by talented and inspiring Musical Directors. Competition is keen and intense, and in the past few years there has been no single band consistently winning everything. However most bands have played well, including Sutherland Shire Band, Hall Village Band from the Canberra area, and the City of Wollongong Band. Perhaps the A-grade bands might have a fight on their hands in a few years as one of these bands takes a consistent lead and eventually moves up a grade.

30 Jun 2003

Bob O'Brien's Trifecta at the Sydney Metro Solos

Warringah Concert Brass euphonium player, Bob O'Brien, scored a triple victory in the Sydney Metropolitan Group solo championships in June 2003. He won both the concerto (96 points) and slow melody (96 points) sections, and teamed with Ben Fixter, Warringah's flugel horn player, to secure top points in the duet event (95 points).