Past Performances

Sun, 24 Jul 2022

BWE players turned out in strength to perform a very successful concert at Victoria Park on a warm and sunny afternoon afternoon. The music attracted a large audience.

The programme was conducted by Greg Waters who has been rehearsing the ensemble while our director of music is on tour. Greg helped us to put on an entertaining concert based on these items:

• Overture for Woodwinds by Philip Sparke
• By the Sleepy Lagoon by Eric Coates
• Crown Imperial by William Walton
• Dance of the Comedians by Bedrich Smetana
• Selections from Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin
• Tico Tico by Zequinha Abreu
• Three Southern Sketches by James Rae
• Colonel Bogey by Kenneth Alford

The high winds, were a challenge. Plkayers needed pegs and magnets to stop their music flying away. Play was interrupted when a sudden gust lifted the gazebo from over the public address system to land on the clarinet section.

Volunteers from the audience came to the rescue. The gazebo was reinstated and our performance could continue,

Sat, 21 May 2022

The Bloomsbury Band's tenth anniversary concert should have take place in 2020. This much delayed event finally took place with a programme featuring both new works and favourites from the ensemble's first decade.

The concert was directed by David Morris who set up the ensemble originally and has nurtured it ever since. At this event the current members of the band were joined by former members returning to play as part of the celebration.

David reminisced about key events in the Band's history including notable performances at LSO St Lukes and St John Smith Square. He reflected on what an adventure it had been for a relatively uncommon type of ensemble. Over the ten years, he and the members have enjoyed developing their musicianship, showing remarkable accomplishment and often sharing genuine hilarity..


There has been a long tradition of audience participation during Bloomsbury Band concerts. At this event the audience proved willing and able to join in. In the first part of the concert David invited everyone to contribute rhythmic foot percussion during the playing of Pirates of the Caribbean.

Then during the playing of an arrangement of Hung Up in the second half of the concert the audience sang, in canon, 'Time goes by - so slowly' to accompany playing by the ensemble.

David added variety to the sound worlds created by the ensemble by variously including members playing piano, alto saxophone and percussion instruments.





There is little off-the-shelf music tor an advanced flute and clarinet choir., so the Band, over its lifetime, has commissioned over 100 arrangements and nearly 20 original works. A number of the original works have been written by members of the ensemble, but others have been commissioned from composers such as Roger Cawkwell who has been a very good friend of the Band.

Roger arranged two of the items played in the first half of the concert: Overture from Mozart's Magic Flute and Gournod's Marionette's Funeral March. It was great that Roger was able to be present both to play in some of the pieces but also to explain the inspiration for his new work Mirror Maze which received its premiere at this event.

Another work that recevied its premiere at this concert was Écoutez by Jenni Pinnock which was played during the first half of the concert.

The second half of the concert included works that were played by the ensemble early in its existences such as Bad Romance and The Banks of Green Willow.

The concert ended. with a lively performance of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

 

Sat, 14 May 2022

The audience greatly appreciated BWE's May 2022 concert which was directed for the first time by Michael McGowan, our new director of music.

The programme featured music inspired by, or in some way related to, trains and included a new composition for BWE by Shea Lolin. Other works that we played were:

• Arthur Honegger Pacific 231
• Antonin Dvo?ák Humoresque
• Hector Berlioz Le Chant des Chemin de Fer
• Percy Grainger Arrival Platform Humlet
• James Rae Three Southern Sketches
• Richard Rodney Bennett Murder on the Orient Express.

Variety was added to the programme by a performance of Billy Strayhorn's Take the 'A' Train by a saxophone quartet plus Michael McGowan on trumpet.




 

Fri, 17 Dec 2021

The Eurostar queue stretched out of the station and down the road to the British Library as members of the Bloomsbury Band, with the odd addition from BWE, played a programme of seasonal music to entertain passengers at St Pancras Station.

The programme included familiar Christmas carols as well as
• Quand je Bois,
• Gaudete,
• Winter Wonderland and
• Wassail, a new arrangement of traditional tunes by Roger Cawkwell.

The aim was to have some fun while raising money for the Meningitis Research Foundation. The event raised £300.


 

Sat, 4 Dec 2021

The Bloomsbury Band of Flutes and Clarinets was delighted to welcome a live audience for its first indoor concert for nearly two years.

The programme reflected a defiantly busy and innovative time for the Band and included works by Mozart, Berlioz and, in a major step forward, by several members of Bloomsbury Band themselves. 

The programme is summarised below. All the full Band items in this evening’s concert have been commissioned or created by The Bloomsbury Band of Flutes and Clarinets:

* all single starred items have been composed or arranged by members of the Bloomsbury Band of Flutes and Clarinets;

** All double-starred items are live concert premieres this evening.

Overture from The Magic Flute	Mozart. arr. Roger Cawkwell
Leave her Johnny	Trad. arr. Sarah Beardon *
CollaBBorate	Members of Bloomsbury Band: Katie Mason / Helena Ahlfors / Sarah Beardon / Grace Dargan / Alison Henning / Mathilde de Kerangal / Erica Masala / Sam Trillwood / Chris Woodroofe.
Divertimento from 'Cosi fan tutte'	Mozart, performed by The Baker Street Trio
Chris in Composition **	Chris Woodroofe *
Rise Again **	David Morris *
Three Movements from Les Nuits d’Ete: L’Ile Inconnue; Absence; Villanelle **	Berlioz arr. Roger Cawkwell Soprano: Sophie Hopkins
Voi Che Sapete from The Magic Flute **	Mozart arr. David Morris * Soprano: Sophie Hopkins
Wildwood Waltz **	David Morris *
Water	Mathilde de Kerangal *
Back Again **	David Morris *

Chris in Composition and Rise Again both employed composed and prerecorded heavy percussion backing tracks played over the PA system.  

Sat, 27 Nov 2021

This Shea's  last concert with BWE. The BWE concert featured music inspired by quotations from great countries, cities and literary works. 


The jewel in the crown of the programme was the world premiere of Mozart's Pets - a new work by Judith Bingham commissioned by BWE. The link takes you to a recording of our performance of this work which offers an evocation of the final days of the composer as sensed by his animals. The piece depticts the poignant moment of Mozart's death with the final monologue being left to the canary - as realised by a solo flute.
 

Programme:

Adam Gorb Bohemian Revelry  

Keiron Anderson Alice in Wonderland  

Judith Bingham OBE Mozart’s Pets 

INTERVAL 

Martin Ellerby Sinfonia Aqua  

Gustav Holst Japanese Suite 

Leonard Bernstein West Side Story