Lofthouse Joins Enfield for Spring Festival

Trumpet soloist Andrew Lofthouse and the Enfield Citadel Songsters (Leader Tina Shepherd) joined the Enfield Citadel Band (Bandmaster Jonathan Corry) on 16 April 2010 at Waltham Abbey Church for the band’s Annual Spring Festival. Proceeds from the evening were given to support the Waltham Abbey Church Heritage Organ Appeal and the ongoing work of the Salvation Army in Enfield.

Waltham Abbey Church has been a place of worship for over 1,000 years, and is the burial site of King Harold II of England, who was killed in the Norman invasion of 1066.

Andrew Lofthouse, recently graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music with a 1st Class BMus (Hons) degree, is skilled in both the big-band and brass band idioms, having performed with the Matthew Herbert Big Band, Marsden Silver Prize Band and Foden’s Band. During a year of study in Norway he had the opportunity to play with the Eikanger-Bjørsvik Brass Band, winning the Norwegian National Championship and competing at the European Brass Band Championships. During the concert, Lofthouse demonstrated his flexibility, playing both trumpet and flügelhorn solos in a variety of styles.

The concert began with two contrasting items from the band, the festival march Rolling Along (William Himes) and Thomas Rive’s contemplative arrangement of I Know a Fount. Following an invocation and introductions, the band turned to the classical repertoire, presenting Rossini’s overture to The Barber of Seville.

Remaining in the classical repertoire, Andrew Lofthouse presented his first item, Concert Etude (Alexander Goedicke, arr. William Broughton), on trumpet. Next up were the Enfield Citadel Songsters, who offered two items, Steal Away (arr. Peter Groves) and Richard Phillip’s joyous arrangement of Every Time I Feel the Spirit.

To conclude the first half of the program, the band performed two of the masterworks of Salvation Army brass band literature. Both Wilfred Heaton and Leslie Condon are among the top echelon of Salvationist composers of any era, and their talents are greatly evidenced in Victory for Me (Heaton) and The Call of the Righteous (Condon).

After the interval, the band brought the house back in with the Radetsky March (Johann Strauss), followed by the swing-style Sweet By and By (Leonard Ballantine). Andrew Lofthouse returned for another item, this time showing his abilities with the flügelhorn, as he presented Concerto de Aranjuez (Rodrigo, arr. K. Bolton).

The second set of items from the songsters included William Himes’ arrangement of Isaiah 40 and the song Praise to the Lord (arr. Dick Krommenhoek).

Another composition by William Himes, the jazzy So Glad!, was next, again showing Andrew Lofthouse’s mastery of the flügelhorn. The concert concluded with a reading from Scripture, followed by the Enfield Citadel Band’s presentation of Peter Graham’s Shine As the Light.