The Markham Concert Band, an outstanding group of amateur musicians, should be relabelled as professionals. Their recent Christmas concert performance confirms these musicians are as dedicated as any group of professionals.
The Markham Concert Band has been affected by the COVID pandemic a number of times. Adding to that COVID issue, this is a wind instrument orchestra, the risk here obvious.
The Christmas concert
In December, the orchestra replaced live performing with a YouTube one. If you have not seen the performance, click our the YouTube link at the end of this review.
Amateurs play like professionals
The Markham Concert Band is a group of dedicated amateur musicians who have been involved with music since their youth, some as musicians, others as church choir members, and others as school band students. Each of these band members has continued their passion for playing right into adulthood. As members of this orchestra, their dedication has them attending weekly rehearsals to practice and polish their musical skills.
Christmas concert
Public performances such as their recent Christmas concert offer the attendees an opportunity to enjoy the results of their many rehearsals: enjoyable seasonal selections played at a polished, professional-calibre level.
Conductor, Doug Manning, conducted a wonderful variety of musical selections representative of the holiday season: Christmas classics with new style-arrangements, Old classics played in the old-fashioned way; and new original pieces written and conducted by the assistant conductor, Sean Breen.
Given the acoustics of the COVID determined venue were not the best, the performance overcame the acoustical limitations with their grand performance, polished, practiced and definitely professional. Every piece played was a pleasure to hear. Of course, the seasonal selections would bring out the toe-tapping response with the meanest of Scrooges.
The show stopper was the finale, “Jingle Bells Forever,” tremendously enjoyable from the opening note to the final crescendo.
Congratulation to Conductors, Manning and Breen. We also wish to acknowledge Band member, Dennis Gazarek, for his assistance with information about the band and also for his musical contribution.
YouTube LINK: YouTube
Upcoming Concerts
The Band hopes their springtime concerts will be presented in an old-fashioned way: LIVE. We hope so too.
Visit the band’s website: MARKHAM CONCERT BAND
We thank DENNIS GAZAREK for his assistance with this information.
