Quarterly Newsletter January 2021

Published On: January 13, 20215.1 min read
Welcome
Welcome to 2021! Here’s hoping we’re in for a more ‘normal’ year this year. One of our New Year’s Resolutions is to be more involved within our community & with our followers! As a part of that, we will be sending out quarterly newsletters to let you know what’s going on. There’ll be a few additional emails going out as we approach concerts or as we book in new events for the year.
If you’d like to get in touch, please do! You can contact us via Facebook, Instagram or email.Please forward this email on to anyone who you think might enjoy keeping up with the bands. Or if you’ve received this email from a friend, and would like to sign up, click the button below!
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2020 in Review
Without sounding too much like a broken record: it’s been a very different & difficult year!At the beginning of the year, Brisbane Excelsior popped out to the Royal Children’s Hospital to record part of a program for the Juiced TV program at the hospital. The band had a wonderful time being interviewed and conducted by the host of the episode, Zarhara.Back in March 2020, Windsor Brass had just performed at Movies in the Park at Manly Harbour Village. Meanwhile, Brisbane Excelsior were preparing for a fantastic contest to be held in Perth over the Easter Weekend when the 2020 Australian National Band Championships were cancelled. All of our flights & accommodation was booked, and our contest pieces were coming along well! At this point, both the Brisbane Excelsior & Windsor Brass bands cancelled all rehearsals, where our respective rehearsal nights were turned into online catch-ups & trivia nights via Zoom.
In June, both bands came back to rehearsals in reduced numbers. During the downtime, Brisbane Excelsior’s Musical Director, Howard Taylor, took the opportunity to have a hip replacement! Upon the bands return, Assistant Musical Director, Jared Proellocks, led the band for the remainder of 2020.In September, Brisbane Excelsior teamed up with Briefs Factory to perform at the 2020 Brisbane Festival in a series of popup concerts, “All You Need is Love”.October saw Windsor Brass’ recordings of ‘Lions of Legends’ – Thierry Deleruyelle, ‘Cornish Cavalier’ – W.E. Moyle, ‘MacArthur Park’ – Jimmy Webb, and ‘Peace’ – ::::::: for the Queensland Virtual State Band Festival, which was streamed online over the 24th and 25th of October. Of the four sections, Windsor Brass took out Gold in three, and silver in one!Brisbane Excelsior put on its final concert for 2020 in November, guest conducted by Brian Hurdley. For the first time, we also live-streamed this concert to YouTube! A big learning curve for the band, but we pulled it off and will be looking at streaming to the world much more in the future!
To finish Windsor Brass’ performing year, they took some Christmas classics to Mt. Coot-tha at the end of November.To round out a crazy year, the organisation head to the Everton Park Bowls Club for a social get-together and some….trivia! 2020 had one last surprise – torrential rains on our outdoor bowls day! The bands handed out their usual awards and had a great time socialising and talking about the plans for 2021!
 
Band Patrons
The Brisbane Excelsior Band and Windsor Brass Band are excited to announce our new patrons!The Right Honourable, the Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Councillor Adrian Schrinner and The Honourable, Tim Nicholls, MP join our family as the patrons of the Brisbane Excelsior Band & Windsor Brass Bands respectively.We’re looking forward to growing our relationships and working more closely with our new patrons to become more involved within our community.
Brisbane Excelsior & Windsor Brass Wine Fundraiser
During our off-time last year, we teamed up with Prospect Wines to offer a selection of 6 great value wines to help raise funds for the operational costs of our bands. Available wines are:
McLaren Vale Reserve Shiraz – 2016
Clare Valley Cabernet Sauvignon – 2018
Yarra Valley Pinot Noir – 2018
Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc – 2018
Barossa Valley Chardonnay – 2019
Pinot Chardonnay Sparkling BrutWines are available for a limited time only, so please consider ordering some of this highly sort after label while you can. Thank you for your support!
CHECK OUT OUR WINES
2021 QBA Youth Band Camp
The Queensland Band Association is running its annual Youth Band Camp, this year, conducted by Mr. Brian Hurdley. Each year, the Brisbane Excelsior organisation sponsor two musicians to attend the camp.Unfortunately, due to the Greater Brisbane lock-down, this has been postponed until April. We’re looking forward to hearing the results of such an excellent program!
2021 Plans
2021 PlansWith the 2021 National Band Championships being cancelled back in September, the National Band Council of Australia, in consultation with the 2021 Nationals host, Bands Association of NSW, will be hosting the Australian National Online Festival of Bands (ANOFOB), to be streamed online over the Easter Weekend. Both Brisbane Excelsior & Windsor Brass will be participating in this festival and are looking forward to kicking off rehearsals again next week.Also on the cards for Brisbane Excelsior is the continuation of our concert series. Stay tuned early February for the announcement of our 2021 season.
Windsor Brass will also be featured out and about regularly as always.We look forwards to seeing you at our performances this year, and we’re excited to see what 2021 brings us!
Support the Bands
The Brisbane Excelsior & Windsor Brass Bands are very appreciative of any support we receive from our friends! If you would like to make a small donation to the band, head to www.ausbrass.com/donate to help us out.If you’re interested in supporting us in a more substantial way, please contact our Secretary on secretary@ausbrass.com to discuss the sponsorship packages we have available.Thank you!