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By Laura Drinan
Hometown Weekly Reporter
It’s not often that Westwood residents have the opportunity to see 30 brass musicians performing together just minutes away from their homes. So when that opportunity arises, members of the community are eager to see it in person.
On Saturday, May 5, the New England Brass Band, a 30-piece brass and percussion ensemble, visited the First Parish of Westwood to perform.
The band set up on the terrace of the First Parish, allowing community members to choose to sit inside and enjoy the shade or outside to bask in the balmy afternoon. Moments before they began the concert, director Stephen Bulla informed the audience, much to their delight, that the band would be playing the music of New England.
Their first song was John Williams’ “Fanfare for Fenway,” which was written for Fenway Park’s centennial. The New England Brass Band continued with music from Leroy Anderson, a Cambridge-born composer, with their performance of “A Trumpeter’s Lullaby,” featuring Ian Anderson. They also performed “The Girl in Satin” and “Belle of the Ball” in a Leroy Anderson suite.
Truly keeping with the theme of New England music, the band played “The Circus Band,” which was written by Danbury, Connecticut-born composer, Charles Ives. The song, lighthearted and entertaining, was originally composed with Ives’ memories of the Danbury circus in mind.
Works from William Billings, who spent his life in Boston, and Leonard Bernstein of Lawrence, Massachusetts, who wrote the score to West Side Story, were featured in the performance, as well. The band played Billings’ “The New England Psalm-Singer” and Bernstein’s “Candide Overture.”
The New England Brass Band also performed a suite composed by Bulla for the band’s thirtieth anniversary. Entitled “New England Vistas,” three songs comprised the suite and aimed to capture the coast of Maine, the Berkshires, and the mansions of Newport.
What is equally as impressive as their musical abilities is the band’s diversity. The members of the New England Brass Band hail from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Maine, and rehearse weekly in Wilmington, Massachusetts. They are all volunteers, and many of them hold careers in fields unrelated to music, such as business, retail, IT, and engineering.
After the performance, community members were invited to interact with the band during a small reception.
For Westwood’s music appreciators, watching the 30-piece brass and percussion band was the perfect way to enjoy a Saturday afternoon.
