Mayor's Concert

Posted on 4 December 2010

The University of Lancaster Music Society put on a special concert in Ashton Hall on Saturday 4th December at the request of Cllr. Tony Wade, the Mayor of Lancaster, to raise money for his designated charity, the Stroke Unit at Lancaster Royal Infirmary. The concert featured all the ULMS ensembles, performing a programme of ‘Music from the Movies’, which raised over five hundred pounds.

The Ashton Hall was a great venue for the concert and it brought out the best in our ensembles. The concert opened with the Symphonic Wind Band performing Empire Strikes Back from Star Wars under Max Stannard, followed by Pirates of the Caribbean conducted by Hannah Odgen. Next, the Swing Group took to the stage under conductors Adele Butler and Dominic Treharne. They performed Peter Gunn Theme, Soul Bossa Nova and Blues Brothers Revue. The Big Band closed the half with Music from Chicago, Gimme Some Luvin’ and Pink Panther, conducted by Dominic Treharne and Hannah Ogden. There were solos from Jonathan Phippen and Mike Turner.

The second half began with the ULMS Symphony Orchestra under Simon Gower and Christopher Wadeson playing Scene from Swan Lake featuring Rosie Burgess on oboe and Concert Suite from Harry Potter and the Prisoner from Azakaban, in which Max Stannard, Jonny Parton and Chris Osborn covered for the whole brass section. Next up were the Choir under Suzy Wimbourne performing Rhythm of Life, That Lonesome Road, and Oh Bla Di, which might not have fitted the film music programme, but as the choir had recently performed at the MACC, they wanted to demonstrate how well they had done. The concert finished with the Brass Band performing Hymn to the Fallen from saving Private Ryan, The Way We Were, a Flugal Horn solo featuring Laura Emsley, and Cruella De Vil all conducted by Laura Hounsome. Under the baton of Max Stannard the band finished with Somewhere Out There, featuring a Horn Solo from Rachael Critchley, Jurassic Park featuring a Horn Solo from Laura Hounsome and an encore, The Incredibles, which featured most sections of the band, but especially Rachael Keefe on kit.

The Mayor thanked the society for a brilliant concert and promised to be at many more in the future. It was great to perform in such a lovely venue and hopefully this will be the just one of many appearances of ULMS ensembles at the Ashton Hall.