The Gala Concert, supporting the Scottish Brass Band Associations Scottish Solo & Ensemble Championships 2006 was held at Howden Park Centre, Livingston on Saturday 4th February.
The concert featured the multi award wining West Lothian Schools Brass Band, and the current Scottish Senior Brass Band Champions, The Newtongrange Band.
The WLSBB provided the entertainment for the first half of the concert, conducted as ever by Nigel Boddice MBE, and featuring guest soloists David Thornton on Euphonium and Roger Webster on Cornet.
The band commenced their programme with ‘Birdland’ by Zawinul, arranged by Philip Sparke. This was followed by Lennon and McCartney’s ‘Ticket to Ride’, arranged by Alan Fernie. Next was the haunting ‘For the Love of a Princess’, part of the Braveheart Suite by James Horner, arranged by Andrew Duncan. The magnificent ‘The Children of Sanchez’ by Mangione, arranged by Reid Gilje was next, featuring the magnificent trumpet playing of the band’s principal cornet, Vicki Blair. Continuing in upbeat tempo, the band then gave us ‘That’s a Plenty’ by Lew Pollack, and then followed an old favourite, featuring the band’s virtuoso percussionist Kenny Carlyle - the ‘Flight of the Bumble Bee’ by Rimsky Kosakov, arranged by Van Der Woude. Concluding the first half, the band finished their programme with ‘The Conquest of Paradise’ by Vangelis, arranged by Alan Fernie.
An excellent performance, echoing their November 2005 Scottish Youth Championship winning programme.
