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Macclesfield Concert Band
Macclesfield Concert Band was formed as KEMS Concert Band in 2005 and its
membership continues to grow under the popular leadership of Julia Harding.
We play a broad range of light music: film scores, musicals, classical, jazz and
swing, and band classics such as Sousa marches. We perform in local churches, village and community halls, shopping centres and,
weather permitting, bandstands.
Macclesfield Concert Band is a community wind band whose members range in age from late
teens to 70+. We always welcome enquiries from prospective players; in the first instance,
please e-mail us brief details of your playing experience.
At the present time, we have a particular need for percussion (kit/mallet) and
euphonium players. Contact Laura Blackburn if you would like to know more.
Macclesfield Concert Band Music Director Julia Harding looks back on the 2022-23
season
The band has had another busy year which started with our tour to Norfolk last August.
We played to appreciative crowds in Ely, Gorleston-on-Sea and Norwich – the Norwich concert was the first
time we had played in the middle of a pond! Thankfully, the weather behaved, and we all had a great time
– many thanks to Kathryn Moore for all her hard work in organising this trip for us.
We’ve continued our relationship with the Friends of Victoria Park, and it looks like our
Carols at the Bandstand has become a regular gig here as has one of our summer bandstand concerts. We’ve
already performed at Leek this year and we are hoping that the Tegg’s Nose and Victoria Park concerts in June
and July will go ahead. In the eighteen years we have played Carols at Tatton, we’ve only been inside three times
– again it was a great event with the Tenants’ Hall filled to capacity.
A new development this year was the inclusion of two indoor/formal concerts to our season
– these give us a chance to present repertoire which is not really suitable for bandstand performances but extends
our musical horizons – I was very pleased with both concerts, and we also raised over £500 for East Cheshire Eye
Society from our concert in March.
Next year brings some new challenges – joint concerts with the Maia Singers in October and our own
KEMS Macclesfield Singers in June.
Membership has remained stable and there are many members who have been with KEMS for well over ten years
or more. This means that we now have a large repertoire which we can bring out for bandstand concerts and get up to scratch
quickly but it also creates the challenge of finding new pieces to keep everyone interested with the right balance of familiar
and new repertoire.
We have welcomed some new members this year but sadly we have had to say goodbye to a couple of members who
had been with us for many years – Mike Horner and Monica Gent – we thank them for their time with us and the contribution they
have made to the community of the band. Monica was a founding member of the band who attended our first rehearsal and I remember
that she helped us apply for a grant to buy music for the band in its early days – we wish her all the best in her retirement.
As always, thanks to the Band Committee for their continuing support, all the members of the band who do
‘jobs’ on request – but a special thanks is due to Richard Moss who stands down as Chair of the Band Committee aſter 10 years.
CONTACTS
You can contact the band committee either by email (click on the name) or by
telephoning the Secretary.
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Position
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Name/email
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Tel
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Secretary
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Music Director
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Concerts Manager
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WORLD PREMIERE
On 15th October 2017, KEMS Concert Band gave the world premiere performance of
Martian Saloon, by Christopher Schlechte-Bond. Click here to hear the BBC Radio 3 recording.
Macclesfield Concert Band Director: Julia Harding
Julia Harding started playing the recorder at her primary school but really caught the music
bug when she was asked to play the drums and cymbals in a secondary school
production of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by David Bedford - at about the
same time she had started to play a clarinet that used to belong to her dad.
When the school formed its jazz band, Julia started to play the saxophone and played in many concerts, school
productions and shows. She first played with KEMS Orchestra at this time - third clarinet in Verdi's
Triumphal March! She then studied for a BA in Music at Dartington College of Arts and Master's Degrees at Reading and Sheffield Universities.
Julia assisted in founding the KEMS Concert Band. She teaches woodwind and leads
ensembles in Staffordshire and Cheshire schools, has a private teaching
practice at her home in Macclesfield and conducts the Newcastle-Under-Lyme
String Orchestra. She has appeared with the Beckford String Quartet, the KEMS
Concert Band and Newcastle Strings as a soloist.
