The title of the concert certainly rang true when The Trusts Waitakere Brass took to the Glen Eden Playhouse stage on Saturday night to present ‘Entertaining Opera’. Under Musical Director Steven Booth, the band presented a selection of operatic arrangements, including music from Wagner’s ‘Lohengrin’, Gershwin’s ‘Porgy and Bess’, and Verdi’s dramatic ‘Force of Destiny’. The programme also included Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ from their 1975 album ‘A Night at the Opera’.
Soloists: The concert treated the audience to a rich variety of performances, with solo playing from Australasian Soprano Cornet Champion Fendall Hill and Euphonium player Bari Thomas, as well as sensitive ensemble work from Principal Cornet Leon Renilson and Flugelhorn player Courtney Hildreth.
...and Singing: Since no opera concert would be complete without singers, band members displayed their flexibility with impressive vocal performances from Cornet player Roxanne Haines, Bass players Stu Bennion and Jamie Mackay, Bass Trombonist Keith Stubley, and Fendall Hill. The band was also fortunate enough to be supported by vocal performances from members of the Waitakere Ladies Choir and Musica Sacra Choir, as well as pianist William Green. Compere Mark Haines wrestled with various foreign languages in his mission to acquaint the audience with the operatic plots, leaving them both entertained and educated