The Great American SongbookAutumn Leaves - Joseph Kosma, arr. Steve WycherleyA Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square - Manning Sherwin, arr. Gray / EvansAin’t Misbehavin’ - Fats WallerMisty - Erroll GarnerA Foggy Day - George GershwinLullaby of Broadway - Harry WarrenFeeling Good - Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse, arr. Steve Wycherley Symphonic Songs for Band - Robert Russell Bennett- INTERVAL - PORGY AND BESS George Gershwin, arr. Miles Davis/Gil Evans, orch. Tom Griffithsi.ii.iii.iv.v.vi.vii.viii.ix.x.xi.xii.xiii.Buzzard SongBess, You is My Woman NowGoneGone, Gone, GoneSummertimeOh Bess, Oh Where’s My BessPrayer (Oh Doctor Jesus)Fisherman, Strawberry and Devil CrabMy Man’s Gone NowIt Ain’t Necessarily SoHere Come De Honey ManI Wants to Stay Here (I Loves You Porgy)There’s A Boat That’s Leaving Soon for New Yorki.ii.iii.SerenadeSpiritualCelebration
Registered Charity No. 1150054 (England & Wales) SC045081 (Scotland)The Brain Tumour Charity is the UK’s largest dedicated brain tumourcharity, committed to fighting brain tumours on all fronts.They fund pioneering research to increase survival and improvetreatment options and raise awareness of the symptoms and effects ofbrain tumours to get earlier diagnosis and to help families cope witheverything that the diagnosis of a brain tumour brings. They also providesupport for everyone affected so that they can live as full a life aspossible, with the best quality of life.The Charity funds and promotes the UK-wide HeadSmart campaign,raising awareness of the signs and symptoms of brain tumours inchildren and young people to make earlier diagnosis a reality. Earlierdiagnosis will reduce long term disabilities and save lives. In just threeyears, HeadSmart has reduced average diagnosis time from 9.1 weeks to6.5 weeks.This evening we are raising funds specifically for the founders' supportergroup The Samantha Dickinson Fund, which focuses on raising funds forhigh grade glioma research.All profits from the concert this evening will go to this fantastic charity. https://www.thebraintumourcharity.org/donate/
Kew Wind OrchestraThe multi award-winning Kew Wind Orchestra is one of Britain’stop non-professional wind orchestras.Formed in 1984, it is renowned for its popular and challengingrepertoire of symphonic, classical and jazz music. The bandperforms under the baton of conductor Tom Griffiths and hasplayed in top venues around the country including St John’s,Smith Square in London, the Birmingham Conservatoire and TheSage, Newcastle. In recent years the band has toured to France,Spain, Holland, Malta, Germany and Slovakia.KWO is proud to have won a succession of platinum awards at theNational Concert Band finals, commissioned a number of worldpremieres by acclaimed composers and performed with leadingsoloists including trumpeter Phil Cobb, trombonist MarkTempleton, and clarinetist Linda Merrick. The band is honoured tohave recorded two CDs featuring world-class guest soloistsincluding internationally acclaimed trumpeter Rex Richardson,Black Dyke’s euphonium Dave Thornton, Bones Apart trombonistBecky Smith and singer Louise Marshall – a member of JoolsHolland’s band.The band is an entirely self-supporting community band andrehearses every Thursday in Richmond, south west London. Weare always on the lookout for talented and committed new players!
Tom Griffiths began his musicalcareer at the age of 9 playing thecornet in his local brass band and theWest Sussex County ensembles. Tomalso attended the Junior GuildhallSchool of Music, where he firstdiscovered his passion forconducting, under the tutelage ofMichal Omer. Tom was awarded aplace at the Royal College of Music tostudy a bachelor’s degree where hecontinued to study conductingalongside his main instrument, thetrumpet.Tom GriffithsAs a scholar at the RCM, Tom also went on to complete a master’sdegree obtaining a distinction. Whilst at the RCM Tom’s passion forchamber music led to him becoming a founder member of thehighly-acclaimed ensemble Kensington Brass.Tom is also an alumnus of the European Union Youth Orchestra,having played with the orchestra on their marathon 2016 summertour under the direction of Vasily Petrenko and Bernard Haitink.Able to turn his hands to a variety of styles, Tom is fortunateenough to have performed with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra,Zone One Brass, and English Touring Opera, as well as the UK’sbusiest brass quintet, Oompah Brass.Alongside performing, Tom is an enthusiastic and committededucator. He currently holds teaching posts at a number of thecountry’s leading independent schools, including St George’sSchool Windsor Castle, Bradfield College and North LondonCollegiate School. Leading ensembles and coaching haveincreasingly become central aspects of his portfolio of work.
Toby StreetToby Street grew up in SouthEast London. He started playingcornet at the age of 8 and wentthrough the Bromley YouthMusic Trust learning with RayAllen, Tim Heywood and KevinStreet.Toby was awarded a scholarshipto study at the Royal College ofMusic and the Royal Academy ofMusic mainly studying with PaulBeniston and Alistair Mackie. Healso completed a joint principal jazz degree from the RCM studying with Martin Shaw and Mike Lovatt.Toby is a member of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and performsregularly with many leading UK orchestras including the LondonPhilharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia, the BBC PhilharmonicOrchestra and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He alsoperforms regularly with many other UK orchestras. In August 2018 Tobywas delighted to join the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra as 4th Trumpet.In addition to his orchestral work he is also a keen enthusiast of chambermusic and is a founding member of the Riverside Brass Quintet andNeoteric Ensemble. He has also worked with London Brass, Superbrass andSeptura.Toby’s commercial work includes large arena performances with Bastille,The Hoosiers, Public Service Broadcasting as well as commercial sessionwork for CD releases, film scores and library music. Toby also regularlyperforms as lead trumpet with Oompah Brass.Toby is also a keen composer and an experienced arranger. Recently, hehas arranged Christmas carols for the Philharmonia Brass quintet’sChristmas E-card and also completed brass and vocal arrangements forMichael McIntyre’s Christmas Show.
Sophie Burnham Sophie trained at The Arts Educational Schools and madeher debut in Don Quixote at the Coliseum with RudolfNureyev and The Zurich Ballet. After graduating she went on to work in theatre andtelevision. Her credits include Moby Dick (PiccadillyTheatre), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (PlymouthTheatre Royal), Dick Whittington (Watermans), La NouvelleEve, Paris, Royal Variety, The Strand, Laurence OlivierAwards, The Palladium and London cabaret ‘DivineDecadence’ and many more.Over the past two decades Sophie has entertained and sungwith Harlem Swing big band, Babette's Feast Quartet andwith Songs in Time jazz duo.Sophie is a member of dance company Moving Stories. Shefounded SBA and has taught performing arts and fitnessfor 25 years. Since being diagnosed with a brain tumour in2020 she has appeared on television and charity events topromote brain cancer awareness and to fundraise for TheBrain Tumour Charity. She has a large family with 5children and lives in West London with her husbandBruce. Lucy GavinLucy studied at The Arts Educational schools in Tring Parkand Chiswick between 1980 - 1988. She has performed leadand supporting roles in numerous West End showsincluding Patty Simcox and Rizzo in Grease (DominionTheatre), Understudy Peggy Sue in Peggy Sue Got Married(Shaftesbury Theatre), Joseph and his AmazingTechnicolour Dreamcoat and Pirates of Penzance (LondonPalladium), Doctor Dolittle and Oh! What A Night (ApolloLondon), Jesus Christ Superstar, Seven Brides For SevenBrothers, Oklahoma and The Rocky Horror Show, she alsorepresented the UK in Rome in the Eurovison Song Contest.In 2009 Lucy ran her own Stagecoach Theatre Arts School,before setting up her own company LAMDA Tree, teachingLAMDA Drama, Musical Theatre and Public Speaking examsprivately, she now also runs a LAMDA programme atHampton Prep school entering over 85 children into examseach year.
Andrew BainAndrew has combined a career in dentistry with aprofessional singing career as a tenor for the last 20years. He has sung in operas, musicals and concerts allover the world. Notable musical theatre credits includeLes Miserables for Cameron Macintosh, Whistle Down theWind for Bill Kenwright and West Side Story for PimlicoOpera. As an opera singer Andrew has sung for GrangePark Opera, Longborough Festival, Opera Up Close,Chelsea Opera Group, Opera Brava, Surrey Opera andmany more. Roles include Don Jose in Carmen,Cavaradossi in Tosca, Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto,Tamino in Magic Flute. He has also recorded an album ofCrossover Classical Songs for Sony BMG. Andrew isdelighted to be singing with KWO again. Visitwww.andrew-bain.com for more information
The programmeThe Great American Songbook is a loosely defined enduring canon ofsignificant early 20th century American jazz standards, popular songs,and show tunes; spanning from Irving Berlin, through the likes ofRichard Rodgers and George Gershwin, to Hoagy Carmichael and ColePorter; every tune a timeless classic you’ve inevitably heard somewherebefore. To begin the evening we bring you a few familiar favourites, brought toyou by our guest singers. One of the great things about tunes which havealready proved their timelessness is that you might be forgiven fortaking up the creative opportunity to try and turn an old classic intosomething fun and new, and we hope you enjoy the arrangements we’veselected for this evening, ranging from the original, through moremodern arrangements, to our talented in-house arranger SteveWycherley. Robert Russell Bennett’s Symphonic Songs for Band, originally written forthe National Intercollegiate Band gathering in the US in 1957, areparticularly reminiscent of George Gershwin, arguably the cornerstone ofthis evening’s concert. Bennett worked with seemingly every ‘golden age’Broadway songwriter, including Gershwin, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin,Richard Rodgers and more, usually as an arranger and orchestrator,between 1920 and 1975.In three movements (or ‘songs’), the work begins with ‘Serenade’, whichBennett himself described as having ‘the feeling of strumming’, and withoccasional soundscapes that could have been directly lifted from aGershwin classic, but with the introduction of what will become Bennett’sinsistent snappy syncopated rhythm heard throughout the work. ‘Spiritual’ was described by Bennett’s friend and colleague FrederickFennell as ‘one of those nice Gershwin-type tunes’, a movement thatmight be easy to indulge in if it weren’t for Bennett’s constant pulse. The final song ‘Celebration’ speaks for itself; Bennett envisaged ‘an old-time country fair’, and it certainly depicts a scene - you can almost seethe 42nd Street-esque tap dance routine unfold.
Gershwin’s 1935 opera Porgy and Bess tells the story of Porgy, a disabledblack street beggar living in the slums of Charleston, and deals with hisattempts to rescue Bess from the clutches of Crown, her violent andpossessive lover, and Sportin’ Life, her drug dealer. Fast forward to 1959, and Miles Davis and Gil Evans’s studio album Porgyand Bess is released to critical acclaim, largely securing the pair’sreputation as one of the most influential 20th century American musicpartnerships. Producer Cal Lampley allegedly had the idea for theadaptation while working on the Miles Ahead sessions: “I called Miles…hesaid, ‘Cal, I’m sitting here trying to think of doing something with mywife and you’re calling me with this shit.’ and hung up!”. But a few dayslater Miles called back to say it’s a good idea - and later even creditedhimself with the idea as his wife Frances Taylor was dancing in Porgyand Bess at the time. The tracks don’t necessarily follow the original libretto, but each tuneevokes moments of the original - the slow calming lullaby ofSummertime, the lament of Oh Bess, Oh Where’s My Bess, the tragedy ofGone, Gone, Gone, and the false optimism of There’s a Boat That’s LeavingSoon for New York, as Bess is tricked into leaving with Sportin’ Life andPorgy returns from prison to discover her gone. The more determined ‘OhLawd I’m on my way’ which ends Gershwin’s opera doesn’t feature here -instead we are left with the uneasier ending, a fade into nothing butFrench horns, representing the foghorn of the ship sailing away.Of all the tunes, the only composition credited to Evans is Gone, animprovisation on the improvisation of the succeeding movement. Thealbum is also credited with being part of the movement towards modal, orstatic, harmonies, foreshadowing Davis's album Kind of Blue. Of thisDavis said; “When Gil wrote the arrangement of ‘I Loves You, Porgy’ heonly wrote a scale for me to play. No chords. Gives you a lot more freedomand space to hear things… when you go this way, you can go on forever…Itbecomes a challenge to see how melodically inventive you are.” Thisevening, trumpet powerhouse Toby Street takes on the role of a modernday Miles, and with it the freedom to invent his own melodies above thefull forces of a wind orchestra.
Kew Wind OrchestraClarinetCathy BromleyLaura WillisRos SeagerGeorgia Gibson-Smith+ Simon MartinElaine Dawson Kate HartGeoff ActonEmily Williams Quentin Maxwell-Jackson (bass)Andre Stryger (contrabass)FluteJosie ShepherdAlex ChantrellMaria VizitiuChris Gould (piccolo)OboeLisa StonhamLinda HallBassoonKevin RafterySaxophoneRich HillEllie AlmondEileen McManusKirsty WalkerCommitteeFrench HornIvor NichollsMick NagleRichard LockingtonJohn Whelan+ TrumpetDavid ShepherdSteve Wycherley+Charlotte RichardsonPhil DawsonTromboneDavid WillisGill FalshawPhil BarnesEuphoniumAlastair WheelerTubaChris HouslanderDavid Lavender+ String BassPhilip Austin+ PercussionAndy Black Mark BurtonSteve Horan+ Porgy and Bess transcribersChairTreasurerSecretaryConcert ManagerOrchestra ManagerMemberMemberGeorgia Gibson-SmithDavid VigarEileen McManusCathy BromleyAmi Lodge+ Laura WillisLinda Hall
A word of thanks from the Chair As is always the way with amateur organisations, we rely heavilyon the time and goodwill of our members and friends. When Tomfirst suggested putting on Porgy with the band, I knew it would takea greater deal of time than a usual project in order to createsomething special. With that in mind, I would like to extend huge,huge thanks to the following individuals, without whom it wouldnot have been possible to be here playing for you today:To our singers, Sophie, Lucy and Andrew, for bringing the AmericanSongbook theme together and for being fundraising champions forThe Brain Tumour Charity; To our soloist and friend Toby, for recreating the magic of MilesDavis; To our musical director Tom, for having the idea and seeing itthrough, and for all the time given to orchestrate Porgy and Bess forKWO; To David Shepherd, for the most impressive artwork over the years- thank you for lending us your creative eye and for all your timeShep;To our team of transcribers, Ami, David, John, Philip and Steve,without whom we might not have had any dots to play;To my fellow committee members Ami, Cathy, Eileen, Laura, Lindaand David, for all the time given to keep the band runningthroughout the past months and years;And finally to you our supportive audience; thank you friends andfamily for coming to our concerts and for always being soencouraging of our music-making.
Looking to join a band?Do you play an instrument to Grade 8 standard orabove? Committed to regular rehearsals? Join us! Email us at recruit@kewwindorchestra.org.ukwww.kewwindorchestra.org.uk@kewwindorchestra@TheKWOKew Wind Orchestra