Nottingham Concert with Steve Sykes and Enfield Citadel Band

Steve Sykes, one of the best-known tuba soloists in the brass band world, joind with the Enfield Citadel Band (Bandmaster Andrew Blyth) on Saturday, 12 November 2005, in the William Booth Memorial Halls, Nottingham, for a festival concert.

The band opened the concert with Robert Redhead's A Fanfare of Praise, followed by I Know A Fount (Thomas Rive). Following an invocation and introductions, the band played Leslie Condon's masterpiece, The Call of the Righteous. Another Condon classic was next, this time featuring Steve Sykes performing the tuba solo Celestial Morn. The band continued with Ray Farr's arrangement of Bach's Toccata in D Minor, always an audience favorite. Sykes returned to present his own arrangement of El Cumbanchero. The final item in the first half of the program was a classical transcription, Elsa's Procession to the Cathedral (Richard Wagner, arr. William Himes).

Returning from the intermission, the band started the second half with a stirring march, New York 90 (Stephen Bulla). Steve Sykes showed his lyrical abilities with He Wipes the Tear (Don Morrison). In recognition of the approaching Christmas season, the band gave its performance of Martyn Thomas' carol arrangement Comfort and Joy. The final item by Steve Sykes was again his own arrangement, this time of Monti's classic violin solo Czardas. The band prefaced the reading of Scripture with a chorale setting of French (Wilfred Heaton, trans. Paul Hindmarsh). Following the reading of the Word, the concert concluded with one of the new classics of Salvation Army Brass Band literature, Dean Jones' Glorifico Aeternum.