The Abingdon Concert Band and musical director Neil Brownless raised the roof at the Cornerstone Arts Centre in Didcot on Saturday 27 June with our summer Proms Extravaganza concert. An excellent and varied programme included a world premiere of Unsung Heroes, commissioned by the band in memory of a founder member and bassoonist Bob Eccles. Written by up-and-coming Welsh composer Tom Davoren this fine and melodious piece is well suited to the rich brass and woodwind sound of the concert band, and a great addition to their repertoire.

The evening also featured guest soloist Richard Bates performing the virtuoso trumpet concerto of Hummel, with the band giving a lively impression of an eighteenth century string orchestra. He also entranced the audience with his lyrical rendition of Philip Sparkes’s Flowerdale on soprano cornet and the Salvation Army favourite Share My Yoke on flugelhorn. The evening closed with a series of Proms favourites including Fantasia on British Sea Songs, Jerusalem and Pomp and Circumstance complete with enthusiastic audience participation. A rousing finish to the mark the band’s first visit to Cornerstone.

Catch us next back in Abingdon at the Yolande Patterson Hall on 12 December for our Christmas concert, this year presented jointly with Abbey Brass.