Macclesfield Concert Band
Macclesfield Concert Band was formed as KEMS Concert Band in 2005 and its
membership continues to grow under the popular leadership of Julia Harding.
We play a broad range of light music: film scores, musicals, classical, jazz and
swing, and band classics such as Sousa marches. We perform in local churches, village and community halls, shopping centres and,
weather permitting, bandstands.
Macclesfield Concert Band is a community wind band whose members range in age from late
teens to 70+. We always welcome enquiries from prospective players; in the first instance,
please e-mail us brief details of your playing experience.
At the present time, we have a particular need for drum kit/percussion. Contact Richard Moss 01477 533764) if you would like to know more.
WORLD PREMIERE
On 15th October 2017, KEMS Concert Band gave the world premiere performance of
Martian Saloon, by Christopher Schlechte-Bond. Click here to hear the BBC Radio 3 recording.
Macclesfield Concert Band Music Director Julia Harding looks back on the 2019-20
season
Our year started with our fourth tour – this time to St Omer in France, with the first two concerts in public parks at
St Omer and Amiens followed by our final concert in Cassel, providing
entertainment for a Hen Party, a Biker’s Convention and an entire village! Between the concerts, there were trips and tours exploring the local area,
including restaurants and hostelries! Andrew Tyler was our Tour Manager – thanks to him for all his time, hard work and enthusiasm.
The first concert of our season was at the United Reformed Church in Congleton
which proved a very welcoming venue – thanks to Moira Taylor for initiating this.
Then we moved into Christmas – the Carols at Victoria Park were well-received and it looks like this is going
to become an annual booking for us alongside the final gig of the year which
was the Carols in the Stableyard at Tatton.
Our final concert this year was on March 7th when we took part in the
International Festival of Contemporary Music organised by COMA (www.coma.org) The concert involved the Concert Band and Contemporary Ensemble from KEMS as
well as Macclesfield Society of Recorder Players and Macclesfield Music Centre
Adult Choir. The evening concert was preceded by an afternoon of instrumental and vocal
workshops led by Julia Harding and Lily Bracegirdle, a concert of clarinet and
flute duets performed by Tim Ward and Julia Harding. The object of the day was to showcase the music of composers who are composing
music in our own time and we certainly did that! It was good to have another opportunity to perform our ‘Martian Saloon’ piece which was specially composed for us a few years ago – many audience members remarked on how much they enjoyed it! However, planning and working on this event took a good deal of time and effort – thanks to all the band but to Richard, Tim, Lily, Karen and Lorna in particular
for their help and support.
We did have a concert planned for the end of March but that had to be cancelled
due to the Coronavirus outbreak. We were also starting to make plans for a tour next year – that has been postponed too as we don’t know what restrictions will be in place post-Covid and post-Brexit.
At the moment, in common with many other music-making organisations, we are
waiting to hear when we will be allowed (and safe) to rehearse together again…the research around wind instruments and transmission of viruses is at an
emergent stage and we just have to wait and see what happens in the next few
months.
As always, a huge thanks to the Band for their support in the last year and to
the Committee for their help and support.
Let’s hope that we can all get back to some music-making soon
