News

Review of Pasedena Roof Orchestra
The long-anticipated concert given by The Pasadena Roof Orchestra finally took place on Saturday 14th October, having been postponed by two weeks from 30th September. The Band, fresh back from a successful tour of Germany, were in top form and their performance was greeted with enthusiasm and rapturous applause. Many members considered this one of the best performances they had heard and the quality more than compensated for the last minute changes Pasadena made to the intended programme.
There were several solo items on various instruments as well as the gentle but very funny humour we have come to expect from Pasadena. This all helped to create a wonderful evening and atmosphere in St Peter’s Church as it echoed the sound of the music, the audience rocked and with some singing along to the music. A much appreciated and very memorable concert.
Review of Chatteris & Manea Silver Band 15th March 2025
The first concert of our 2025 season was held at Emmanuel Church, Chatteris last Saturday afternoon when the Chatteris and Manea Silver Band gave a memorable concert full of scintillating music. Works by Prokofiev, Irvin Berlin, Quincy Jones, Stephen Schwartz and many more composers were enjoyed by an enthusiastic audience who appreciated hearing the well known themes.


Music from the film Lord of the Rings composed by Howard Shore and arranged by Andrew Duncan enthralled, while Bizet's Carmen captivated many. Music from the shows was also represented with a rendition of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'All I ask of you' arranged for brass by Christopher Mowat together with a medley of pieces composed by Glenn Miller.


The concert included much rhythm and foot tapping numbers and was concluded with an item entitled 'Disney Spectacular'. This was an arrangement by Goff Richards of a number of well known Disney themes which brought the concert to a fitting climax and conclusion. Our thanks both to the Band for the music and Emmanuel Church for the use of their premises which helped CMS stage this wonderful concert."


Review of Crispian Steele- Perkins concert 12th July 2025
 Our Chatteris Music Society concert given by Crispian Steele-Perkins last Saturday 12th July was anticipated with much enthusiasm and Cripian did not disappoint with an exceptional performance, ably accompanied by Organist Ian LeGrice on the Allen Organ. The setting for the concert, the 13th century St Andrews Parish Church, Sutton in the Isle, with it's wonderful acoustics was the perfect venue for Crispian to demonstrate his many antique trumpets, some over 200 years old, to the very best effect.
The programme included quite a lot of older music by composers Jeremiah Clarke, William Boyce, George Frederick Handel, Wolfgang Mozart and Johann Baptist Neruda (a little known but prolific Czech composer) who all lived and composed within the period 1680 to 1791. During that period the Trumpet was developed considerably and Crispian was able to show a number of examples from his collection of the exact type of trumpet each piece was originally composed for. Better still we were able hear those pieces played by Crsipian on the original instruments for which they were first composed.
 
The programme also included music by 20th Century composers - notably the welsh composer Professor William Mathias's 'Processional' for trumpet. Other items included medleys by well known 20th century composers from stage and screen: Henry Mancini's 'Hollywood Medley' and George Gershwin's 'Someone to Watch over me'.
Ian LeGrice also played a solo piece on the Organ which demonstrated some of the many 'colours' of that particular Organ - the most versatile of all musical instruments. The concert was appreciated and enjoyed by all who attended, containing many popular and well known tunes played in a number of different musical styles.
We appreciate the effort made by most of the audience in finding a different route down to Sutton. Ongoing repairs to the Mepal Bridge meant that is was finally opened by 20.00 hours on Saturday evening so the journey home to Chatteris and March was a little more straightforwar