Presented by: Woodville Concert Band
Reviewed: 3 May, 2024
On Friday 3 May, the Woodville Town Hall was filled to the very brim with the artistic stylings of the Woodville Concert Band and their love letter to the world of video games. The love child of artistic director, composer, and arranger Dr Nathan Cummins, this is a suite of tonal shifts, visual splendour and concert wonder.
Opening the evening with a piece from Super Mario Bros: Wonder and moving through The Legend of Zelda, Halo 3:ODST and Octopath Traveller, it is clear that Cummins has a unique take on concert band arrangement, utilising an incredibly wide range of instrumental width when assigning which instrument or section would lead a selection. It truly feels as though Cummins understands his musicians unique talents, and how to best utilise them when arranging the works for them.
Highlights include the rambunctious Super Smash Bros: Brawl main theme, played with the power and bombastic fervour that the famous Wii brawler deserves, the haunting Rain from ODST – a compositional and arrangers dream, non-traditional percussion reverberates throughout the hall, roaring through the vaulted ceiling, before the melancholic dread of the covenant invasion plays out on the screen, and the encore Sogno di Volare, the main theme of Civilisation VI, drives home the talent of these musicians, as they each come together in the dreams of flight.
Special attention must be given to the many soloists and featured players on the evening, and to Thomas Raits, a featured arranger on the evening, who also took the baton through the almost obligatory Mario Kart piece – someone maybe to watch?
It appears that whilst live concert band and orchestra may seem stuffy to those out of the know, Cummins and the Woodville Concert Band are on the pulse of what audiences want – they want to hear sparkling arrangement, tight harmonious instrumentals, and the dream of flight.
Reviewed by Daniel Hamilton
Photo credit: supplied
Venue: Woodville Town Hall
Season: Ended
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