Youth Rock At Big Band Festival

Youth Rock At Big Band Festival

As the Christchurch Town Hall rocked to the rhythm of the 4.8 earthquake last Sunday afternoon, the Limes Room stage was rocking even more. Australian band Decahedron didn't pause in their Big Band jazz performance of Paul Gibens’ “Safely Grazing”. There may have been security in the knowledge that they were playing an adaptation of J S Bach's “Where Sheep May Safely Graze”. Afterwards the band wondered if maybe the shake was old J S turning over in his grave, not very happy with what had been done to his music!

New Zealand born Gibens, the principal arranger for
Television New Zealand’s Happen Inn, Ray Woolf Show
and 12 Bar Rhythm and Blues, is the multi instrumentalist leader of Decahedron.

This year’s Big Band Festival focused on youth, with workshops and master classes for youngsters aged from 10 to 20 plus. Among the advisers were two internationally known Americans, pianist Bill Cunliffe and saxophonist Bob Sheppard. They starred with Aucklander Rodger Fox’s New Zealand School of Music Big Band, in Sunday night’s Coast Radio concert in the Town Hall. This was the most serious event of the six-day festival, swinging with a preponderance of brass and playing winning numbers from the composing and arranging competition which was such an important feature of the event. In fact, most of the prizes were presented to members of the school of music band already on stage.

Results of the Big Band Festival Composing and Arranging Competition 2010, organised by The Big Band Festival in association with Computer Music Limited and supported by Creative Communities New Zealand: STUDENT CLASS. AN ARRANGEMENT OF AN EXISTING WORK FOR A BIG BAND. First prize Michael Crawford for his arrangement of “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To”. Runner Up Callum Allardice for his arrangement of “Stella by Starlight”.

AN ORIGINAL COMPOSITION FOR A BIG BAND. First Prize Callum Allardice for “The Mandarin’s Revenge”. Runner Up Umar Zakaria for “Corporate Benefit”.

OPEN CLASS AN ARRANGEMENT OF AN EXISTING WORK FOR A BIG BAND. First prize David Lisik for his arrangement of “Soon”. Runner Up Lauren Ellis for her arrangement of “Pure Imagination”.

AN ORIGINAL COMPOSITION FOR A BIG BAND. First Prize David Lisik for his composition “Cricket Noises and Cricket Music”. Runner Up Konstantin Olenikov for his composition “Alchemist”.

Olenikov’s composition was the most ambitious entry received, from Russia among a number of European entries. A suite in four parts, each based on themes from the book The Alchemist, it was a 26-minute work of considerable complexity.

ENDS

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