
HITCHIN CONCERT BAND celebrated its 23rd anniversary
at the beginning of 2018. It was originally formed as a result of a number of adult amateur musicians
who had met and played at one of the many courses at Benslow. Since its formation, the band
has grown to some 40 members and has flourished, meeting every second or third Sunday evening,
under its conductor Alison Eales.
The band's ethos is essentially one of a large group of friends meeting
to rehearse and perform music for the pleasure of doing so, often meeting
socially after rehearsals and on other occasions. Band members also
form informal groups to play chamber music in each other's homes.
The band has a wide and varied repertoire which it continues to broaden
and expand, embracing styles ranging from jazz to classical music from
the shows as well as works and arrangements made especially for the
band.
Hitchin Concert Band performs
locally twice a year and has regularly toured in the UK and abroad.
The band performed in Sussex for three successive summers, on Eastbourne Bandstand
as well as in Brighton Pavilion Gardens and Hastings. Other UK destinations have
included Derbyshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. Further afield the band has toured twice
in Catalonia and also in Tuscany, performing in several prestigious venues; also
three times in Paris. The most recent foreign tour was in Belgium in 2014.
Concerts have included an appearance at the Gordon Craig Theatre as
part of the Stevenage Festival, which also featured the Kingshott School
Band. The band also performed at a fund raising event at Cockhampstead
near Braughing in support of the Leukaemia Society which raised £1,245
for leukaemia research. In 2010 Hitchin Concert Band was honoured to
appear in St Mary's Church as part of the Benslow's 80th birthday celebrations.
More recently the band has appeared twice at a community event in Sheffield
and Foxholes nursing home in Hitchin.
Hithchin Concert Band has won gold and silver awards in the Community Band section
of the National Concert Band Festivals.
The band welcomes new members and can accommodate a wide range of performing
abilities. To view our current vacancies please click
here.