Capacity Audience at Christmas Concert

13 December 2007

A capacity audience at Beeston's Round Hill Primary School celebrated Christmas Cheer in style last Saturday at a family concert staged by Nottingham Concert Band (Robert Parker) with the Round Hill School Choir.

The 60-strong band played a variety of seasonal pieces including James Curnow’s Cavalcade of Christmas, Leroy Anderson's A Christmas Festival, Philip Sparke’s setting of the traditional Ukrainian Bell Carol and Bill Holcombe’s upbeat Christmas Jazz Suite. The choir’s spontaneous involvement in Naohiro Iwai’s new swingtime version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer clearly delighted the audience, as did their mastery of the vocal line when they joined the band in Three Noels by Clare Grundman.

Audience participation was encouraged by presenter Ashley Parnell. He reflected the party spirit of the occasion through a series of swift costume changes, donning his dressing-gown and slippers to introduce the band’s sensitive interpretation of Howard Blake’s Walking in the Air and wrapping up in anorak and "wellies" for Prokofiev"s Midnight Sleigh-ride, an arrangement by Tom Wallace which featured the band"s percussion section.

All proceeds from the Christmas Cheer concert will be donated to The Arches, a local charity which supports homeless and needy families in Nottingham.