By Val Javin
There is no doubt that one thing unites the two musical organisations who will be sharing their talents at a concert in Lindley later this month.
Marsh Ladies Choir hosts musical neighbours Lindley Band in a concert at Lindley Methodist Church which it has titled, The Gift Of Music.
And the concert (Sunday, March 29 at 2.30pm), as the title suggests, will be brimming with pieces chosen to celebrate the passion both groups share for creating exciting, uplifting music.
MLC will open the concert with the Rodgers and Hammerstein tune It’s A Grand Night For Singing from the film, State Fair plus the Bernstein/Sondheim classic Somewhere, from the musical West Side Story.
The musicals theme is found elsewhere with the Choir Anthem from Chess whose creative team included Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus of supergroup Abba plus Sir Tim Rice. And who wouldn’t say, Thank Your For The Music from the Abba hit film, Mamma Mia?
The choir’s musical director Ian Abbott will be at the helm with Kim Kaye as accompanist. Ian’s arrangement of What Would I Do Without My Music, commissioned by the choir last year to mark its 70th anniversary and warmly applauded by American musician Bruce Belland who co-wrote the song with Harry Middlebrooks, will also be included.
Guests Lindley Band, conducted by its musical director Alan Widdop, is a well established brass band with a history reaching back to the mid 1800s, making it one of the older bands in the UK.
It has a purpose-built band room in the heart of Lindley just down the road from where the ladies choir rehearses, and its players wear a uniform which proudly marks its Lindley connections. The motif on the brass players’ jackets offers more than a nod to one of Lindley’s best know landmarks, Lindley Clock Tower.
Alison Pickles will feature as the cornet soloist in Georgia On My Mind whilst Richard Jones plays the flugel horn solo in With All My Heart.
Expect a traditional brass band march in Cossack, Kurt Weill’s Mack The Knife from The Threepenny Opera plus plenty of drama and musical thrills in Bohemian Rhapsody.
It all adds up to The Gift Of Music.
Tickets on the door.
