Drogheda Brass Band School of Music Student of the Year Conal O'Maolain (centre) receives the Jim Kierans Memorial Trophy from Barry Maher (left), director of the school of music, and Karl Davis (right) of sponsors Beverage Business Solutions.

Drogheda Brass Band’s Student of the Year concert recently took place in the newly renovated Droichead Arts Centre. The night, sponsored by Beverage Business Solutions, featured the band’s School of Music and highlighted the ability of the students and teachers in the band. All students played to a packed hall of proud parents before being presented with their grade certificates following excellent results last summer.

The concert was opened by the senior band fresh from winning the North of Ireland Brass Band Championship before the real stars of the night took centre stage. The band’s newest members, taught by Aoife Crowley, were first to play. It was the class’s concert debut having only joined the band two months ago. The group, aged 7 to 10, played a really entertaining set, the highlight of which, Bb Blues, brought huge applause from the captivated audience.

Next on stage was the Grade 1 Brass group who entertained the audience with five pieces including On My Own featuring Hannah Plunkett, Rebecca Murray and Aisling Reilly, School Anthem written and performed by Rebecca and Orla Murrey and Ireland’s Call played by Ailish Newton and Una O’Shea.

The audience were then treated the brass trio of Sally Bogue, Evan English and Michaela Plunkett. Each student, accompanied by Kevin Donnelly on keyboard, performed nerveless solos to the delight of the audience.

The last group on were the Grade 5 Brass group and they produced a very stylish performance under the baton of Mark Nutley and Sarah Flood. The group played three quartet pieces, the highlight of which was Pie Jesu.

Each teacher nominated candidates from their class for Student of the Year award. The nominees were Rebecca Murray, Conor Higgins, Hannah Plunkett, Sally Bogue, Eoin Tunstead, Amy Townley and Conal O’Maolain. After much deliberation Conal O’Maolain was announced as the winner and was presented with the Jim Kierans Memorial Trophy by Karl Davis of Beverage Business Solutions.

Director of the School of Music Barry Maher thanked teachers and parents for their continuing support before the stars of the night rounded of the concert in spectacular style, playing Spooks Parade, a piece arranged and conducted by the band’s deputy conductor Stephen Murray.

The group will be back on stage on Dec 17^th for the band’s Christmas Concert in the Droichead Arts Centre.

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Drogheda Brass Band take to the stage of Droichead Arts Centre for what promises to be their best ever concert on Wednesday, May 14th, next at 8pm.The band have prepared a multimedia interactive concert based around the Drogheda premiere of Paul Lovatt Cooper’s fantastic ‘Dark Side of the Moon’, which the band played as part of their title-winning performance at the national championships in Limerick in March.The entire concert will be based around the moon and space and expect to hear fantastic tunes from ‘Also Sprach Zarathustra’ and Hoagy Carmichael’s ‘Stardust’ through to more modern numbers like ‘Apollo 13′ and David Bowie’s ‘Life on Mars’.Admission to this fantastic event is onle five euro and tickets are available from Droichead Arts Centre box office on 041-9875140.

Sunday 16^th December 2007 saw the Drogheda Youth Band join with the Tredagh Singers Choir as guests in their annual Christmas Concert held in St. Peters Church. To say the atmosphere was electric would be an understatement as a packed church enjoyed all the night’s festivities.

Prior to the band playing the choir sang a selection of Christmas carols and in a rare treat the Meath Harp Ensemble made their first venture into Drogheda and left their mark on proceedings with a selection of carols and classical pieces all played on harps.

It was the bands honour to open the second half of the programme and what an opening it was. The bands opening piece Magnificent Seven got the band off to a flyer and they continued this excellent form through Pirates of the Caribbean, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and Celtic Rock. They concluded there short but exciting programme with the Old Christmas favourite Jingle Bells. This was greeted with rapturous applause from the appreciative audience.

Later in the evening the band joined with the Tredagh Singers to perform three congregational pieces namely Hark the Herald, Silent Night and Oh Come All Ye Faithful. Following the concert the bands Musical Director Stephen Murray was full of praise for the bands efforts on the evening in question. “The band performed extremely well in front of a jam packed audience of what must have been nearly four hundred. I’m extremely proud of each and every one of the band tonight and thank them for their efforts over the last few weeks and also over the past year. I would also like to thank The Tredagh Singers who invited us to play with them.” The Youth Band will now break till the New Year but they would like to thank everybody for all their support over the past year and wish everybody a Happy Christmas and Musical New Year.

Brass band champions of Ireland, Drogheda Brass Band, return to the Droichead Arts Centre on Friday, December 14th, next with a concert sure to tickle the tastebuds of regular audiences at the venue.

In this modern age of stress, commuting, parking and all the worries and hassles associated with the pre-Christmas rush (that seems to begin before Hallowe’en these days!), why not take time out and re-create some of the old Christmas charm with a trip to hear this top band performing.

Under the guidance of musical director Michael Maher, the band have continued to impress all, none more so than Sunday shoppers late last month on West Street as part of the “Bringing The Buzz Back” festival, when they played tunes and Christmas carols outside Kevin McAllister’s electrical store.

The theme for the concert is themes from shows and movies, so expect to hear some haunting melodies from “Lord of the Rings” and “Saving Private Ryan” alongside some more light-hearted numbers like “Wandrin’ Star”, an Eb bass solo with Michael Plunkett and “A Disney Spectacular”.

The fabulous Drogheda Youth Band under their conductor Stephen Murray will also perform at the concert.

And, of course, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without some brass band carols so expect to hear some old yuletide favourites at the concert too.

Don’t forget to dig deep when you see the band playing carols on West Street and in the shopping centres in the build-up to Christmas as they are raising much-needed funds for their new bandroom project.

Tickets for the concert are priced at €10 and are available at the door on the night. Concert begins at 8pm sharp.

Young euphonium player Ian McCormack was crowned student of the year at Drogheda Brass Band’s annual prize-giving concert in the Westcourt Hotel last week. Ian beat off stiff competition from ten other nominees from the school of music to capture the Jim Kierans Perpetual Cup.

In front of a packed house, there was fun and entertainment all night from the various groups who played. Drogheda Brass Band’s senior outfit opened the proceedings with the old film march “Aces High” before another film piece, this time from Austin Powers, “Soul Bossa Nova”, had the audience smiling and tapping along. They rounded off their section of the concert with “Everything I Do” and finally, very fitting for the occasion, “Fanfare and Flourishes”.

Director of the School of Music, Maria Burns, then took over as MC for the evening and introduced the recorder group, under the tuition of Yvonne Cunningham. The group, made up of Jack Carr, Victor Owinwa, Anna Rothwell, Oisin Brady, Aaron O’Brien, Evan English, James Leonard, Cait, Ewan, Blaithnaid MacArdle and Sally Bogue, were helped on the night by Niamh Cunningham and Declan Behan from the percussion group.

Drogheda Youth Brass were up next, with their conductor Stephen Murray and what a show they put on. Starting with the old west tune “Magnificent Seven”, Conor Rothwell was then featured in “The Rose” before they played “Latin Fiesta” and “High on Blues
Meadow”.

Their rendition of “Pirates of the Caribbean” had the audience in raptures before they played the famous old hymn tune “Abide With Me”. Their finale was as exciting as it was pulsating, with “Celtic Rock” and “Everybody Needs Somebody”.

The list of nominations for Student of the Year included Grace English and Eoin Tunsted from Grade 2, Ian McCormack and Michaela Plunkett from Youth Band, Stephen Conlan and Maria O’Neill from Grade 3, Oisín Brady, Aaron O’Brien and Anna Rothwell from recorder group and Declan Behan and Conall Ó Maoláin from percussion class.

Maria Burns also presented gifts to the band’s teachers Mark Nutley, Aoife Crowley, Stephen Murray, Martin Shields, Yvonne Cunningham, Regina Cassidy, James English and Sarah Flood.

Band treasurer Michael Plunkett outlined to those present the news that the band has received a grant of €24,200 from the ACCESS II fund towards architectural fees for their new bandroom project.

Drogheda Brass Band are next in action on Sunday November 25th as part of the “Bringing The Buzz Back” festival, playing at 1pm outside St. Peter’s Church, West Street. Their annual Christmas concert takes place on Friday, December 14th, in the Droichead Arts Centre at 8pm. Tickets priced at €10.

Young euphonium player Ian McCormack took the top plaudits at Drogheda Brass Band’s student of the year concert held in the Westcourt Hotel on Tuesday November 13th last. Full story on the way!!

Its that time of the year again where the students from each class make their final claim to win the annual award. Just like last year the concert will take place in the Westcourt Hotel and will showcase the various bands and classes within the band. The concert will take place on 13th November kicking off at 8pm sharp. The admission fee will be 5euro at the door. All are welcome to attend.

June 1st was to see the Drogheda Brass Band’s first concert of 2007, entitled “Showstoppers!”.

Opening with “Boogie Woogle Bugle Boy”, our return to the Droichead Arts Centre was, from the opening, a series of show stoppers. This feature – composed, amazingly enough, by Prince – shows off the front row cornets’ abilities to the full. This was only the first of a number of challenging pieces for all the sections of the band.

Next on the agenda was an abridged version of Goff Richards’ “Oceans”, one of the pieces with which we won the national band championships earlier in the year. The many movements of this piece evoke imagery of seas and oceans around the world, from the laidback waters of the Caribbean through storm-laden seas to regal clipper ships returning home from the great oceans.

The band likes to feature their youth band in all their performances; it is wonderful experience for the players who will, before long, be sitting along with the senior band itself and an amazing demonstration of the talent prevalent in the young people of Drogheda. Under the baton of principal cornet Stephen Murray, the band has improved in leaps and bounds over the past couple of years. At this concert they performed for nearly half an hour, playing such challenging pieces as “” and “Deep Harmony”. Stephen and band were rewarded with rapturous applause.

After a few moments, the senior band returned to the stage. There was a distinctly Celtic flavour to this half, incorporating as it did Peter Graham’s “Gaelforce” and Bill Whelan’s “Riverdance”. Introduced to the band many years ago in a “Summer Sounds” course by Archie Hutchison, “Riverdance” is, for the Drogheda Brass Band at least, truly the showstopper of them all.

Following the concert, the venue was Corrigan’s in Georges Street for a post-concert party. Band members, friends, relations, ex-members and audience members joined together for food, drink and dancing into the wee small hours.

Also at the party, conductor and musical director Michael Maher was presented with a card and token of appreciation for his sterling work and dedication to the band, without which neither tonight’s concert not a victory in this year’s national band championships could ever have been possible.

>> View all pictures from the concert and party