Regent Brass and Regent Community Brass hosted their regular Autumn concert on their home turf, at the Church of the Ascension in Wembley, joined by soprano Tracy King, cellist Dani Teo and accompanist Li Lin Teo. 

Iconic

Regent Community Brass opened with the iconic ‘Dambusters March’ by Eric Coates which was followed by principal cornet Gillian Park's beautiful rendition of ‘Pastorale’ by Goff Richards. 

After a quick whip through Alan Fernie's ‘Abba Goes Brass’, Tracy King took the stage with wonderful performances of, ‘I Could Have Danced All Night’ from ‘My Fair Lady’ and the aria ‘Un bel Di' (One Beautiful Day)’ from Puccini's, ‘Madame Butterfly’. 

Moving

The band then returned to give a moving account of ‘Penlee’ by Simon Dobson, a highly evocative work written to portray the 1981 Penlee lifeboat disaster, and which was particularly effective in the wonderful acoustic of the church.

In contrast, the band rounded off the first half with a bang, and ‘I Got Rhythm’ by George Gershwin.
 
Albert Hall preview

Ahead of their appearance at the Royal Albert Hall, Regent Brass opened the second half with the ‘Introduction to Act 3’ from ‘Lohengrin’ by Wagner and the famous ’Hebrew Slaves Chorus’ from ’Nabucco’ by Guiseppe Verdi - two composers who celebrate their bicentenary this year. 

The band's principal euphonium player John Gafney showed his wonderful ability to mix technique and lyricism with a fine rendition of Philip Sparke's ‘Pantomime’, before Dani Teo took to the stage with two fine performances of Schubert's ‘Serenade’ and the final movement of the Dvorak ‘Cello Concerto’, very ably accompanied by Li Lin Teo. 

Of Distant Memories

Regent then returned to give a vibrant preview of Edward Gregson's ‘Of Distant Memories’, the set work for their Albert Hall appearance, which received a prolonged and enthusiastic applause from the audience. 

Finally, to round off a wonderful evening of music making, they performed the rousing ‘Pomp and Circumstance March No 1’ by Edward Elgar (accompanied by the fine voice of Tracy  singing from Tracy King) closely followed by the encore ‘Get Happy’ from the pen of Harold Arlen.
 
The large audience certainly enjoyed the wide variety of music on show which once again highlighted the range of local talent in the London Borough of Brent.