2002 International Summer School Brass Band

Conductor: Richard Evans
Guest Soloist: Peter Roberts

Taliesin Theatre, Swansea University
Friday, 2nd August 2002

The Summer may be a quiet time for many of the top bands in the country, but come the holiday period the banding world decamps on mass for a variety of Summer Schools, courses, festivals and weekend breaks. From Scotland, to Southsea, Wigan to Wales, people and more importantly, families with a love for all things brass decide to take a weeks holiday of the "busman" variety and set about enjoying themselves by getting up early and playing till they drop.

One of the best of these courses is the International Summer School Course held at Swansea University, promoted and run by Kapitol Promotions with sponsorship help from Boosey and Hawkes and Wright and Round. It was originally the Sedburgh Summer School, but the change of venue to the city that was home to Dylan Thomas has seen a revival in numbers attending and a revitalised course, that this year was directed by the ebullient Lazarus himself, Richard Evans.

76 players of all ages, all nationalities and differing playing standards enjoyed a week of top class tutoring from the likes of the evergreen and ever brilliant Jim Shepherd, Ian Porthouse, Steve Sykes, David Childs, Nick Hudson, Kevin Wadsworth and Rodney Newton – a fair old line up if ever there was one, whilst Richard Evans, tanned, slim and looking as fit as 35 year old directed things with a vigour and style – full of good humour and hard work in equal doses, that meant by the end of the five days his band of enthusiastic players were able to give a very enjoyable and quite demanding programme of pieces.

To top things off, Peter Roberts was the guest soloist for the end of week concert that was held at the small, but acoustically very fine, Taliesin Theatre at the University. A healthy audience had assembled to hear the band perform and for the most part they were given a wisely chosen programme that had much to commend.

Resplendent in sponsors "T shirts" (all sizes catered for) Richard Evans led them through a first half that included the old war horse overture, "Merry Wives of Windsor", "Bugler's Holiday", "Centennial", "Someone to watch over Me" and "Dance of the Comedians" – which brought out the thought in the reviewer of Bernard Manning doing a jig (strange eh?). The main work of the half however was a sterling effort on "Le Roi d'Y's" and although some of the tuning suffered in the quieter moments, the technical problems were overcome and there was some pretty good efforts in the solo lines from the euph, flugel and solo cornet (who was a young lass about 4 foot spit tall and played like a dream).

Peter Roberts played with the band throughout (as did the other tutors) and he was his nonchalant best when he got up to deliver a stonker of a performance of "Silver Threads amongst the Gold" – minus music, but with a pure clear tone, secure technique and a whopping brilliant top C finish. The audience was suitably impressed.

The second half started with the Swiss contingent wearing their national "t shirts" with pride (the Swiss National Day was on the Thursday) and Richard Evans once again led them through a challenging programme that included the overture "Romeo and Juliet", "Angels" by Robbie Williams, "Malaguena", "Tara's Theme from Gone with the Wind" and "Capriccio Espanyol".

Once more "Tricky Dickey" encouraged his charges to perform as they possibly thought they never could with smiles, winks, nods and thumbs up in all the right places – and in return his players never let him down. He was also on sparkling form on the microphone and kept the audience tickled with his usual mix of wit, warmth and unsurpassed knowledge of the music.

Peter Roberts stood up once more to give a corker of a show on "Panis Angelicus" before adding a few top notes off the copy to the encore, "You'll Never Walk Alone."

All in all, a very neat and enjoyable concert from a massed band that was controlled by an old (although now looking much younger and fitter after his 65,000 mile refit) master in Richard Evans. The tutors had done a grand job on the raw, but enthusiastic talent under their wings, and it paid off in style in the concert. Not a bad way to spend a Friday night, and not a bad way to spend a good week in fine surroundings (the Gower coast is just down the road). Lets hope it continues to be a success.

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