Annual Christmas concert this Saturday

Our final performance of the year is the annual Christmas concert this weekend.

‘Spirit of Christmas’, billed as the concert with the most Christmas tunes, will feature Bede Wind and Bede Chorus at Trinity Church, Gosforth, on Saturday (December 21st). The concert starts at 7.30pm.

The conductor is as always Ernest Young and the accompanist is Peter Waugh.

Admission cost is £8 and includes an interval drink. Tickets can be obtained from band and choir members, you can pay at the door or purchase online at:

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/bede-wind/t-rdknnd

We hope to see you there!

Don’t forget change of venue for our Christmas concert

A reminder about the change of venue for our annual Christmas concert.

We were due to perform at Kings Hall, Newcastle University, on Saturday December 21st but due to circumstances beyond our control the venue has been changed to Trinity Church, Gosforth.

The date is the same and the concert starts at 7.30pm.

‘Spirit of Christmas’, billed as the concert with the most Christmas tunes, will feature Bede Wind and Bede Chorus.

The conductor is as always Ernest Young and the accompanist is Peter Waugh.

Admission cost is £8 and includes an interval drink. Tickets can be obtained from band and choir members, you can pay at the door or purchase online at:

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/bede-wind/t-rdknnd

New venue for Christmas concert

A change of venue has been announced for our annual Christmas concert.

We were due to perform at Kings Hall, Newcastle University, on Saturday December 21st but due to circumstances beyond our control the venue has been changed to Trinity Church, Gosforth.

The date is the same and the concert starts at 7.30pm.

‘Spirit of Christmas’, billed as the concert with the most Christmas tunes, will feature Bede Wind and Bede Chorus.

The conductor is as always Ernest Young and the accompanist is Peter Waugh.

Admission cost is £8 and includes an interval drink. Tickets can be obtained from band and choir members, you can pay at the door or purchase online at:

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/bede-wind/t-rdknnd

Leading UK opera singer performing with Bede Wind this weekend

One of the UK’s leading mezzo sopranos who has performed with some of the best known opera companies around the world will be in concert with Bede Wind on Tyneside this weekend.

Anne-Marie Owens has performed for the Opéra National de Paris, Théâtre Royale de La Monnaie, Opéra de Lausanne, the Komische Oper – Berlin, New York City Opera, Santiago Opera, Arizona Opera, Opera Australia, and at the Hong Kong and Saito Kinen Festivals.

Closer to home, performances have included the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Glyndebourne, Scottish Opera, Welsh National Opera and Opera North.

Anne-Marie’s vast operatic repertoire has included Brangäne Tristan und Isolde, Amneris Aida, Azucena Il Trovatore, Venus Tannhäuser, Herodias Salome and Santuzza Cavalleria Rusticana.

On the concert platform she regularly performs the works of Mahler, Vaughan Williams, Elgar and the choral works of Verdi, Handel, Mendelssohn, Mozart and Beethoven.

Orchestras she performs with include the London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège, City of London Sinfonia and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

South Shields-born Anne-Marie, who studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and joined the English National Opera in 1985, will be accompanied by Sage Gateshead-based Bede Wind, which celebrated its 30th anniversary in January.

The band has been led since its launch by conductor Ernest Young, who was last month awarded the British Empire Medal in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to music.

The concert is being held at St George’s Church, Cullercoats, at 7pm this Saturday, July 6th.

The programme will include both well-known regional tunes and songs from the shows, with Habanera from Carmen, I Could Have Danced All Night from My Fair Lady, Edelweiss from The Sound of Music and You’ll Never Walk Alone from Carousel.

Tickets costing £6 can be purchased online at ticketsource.co.uk/bede-wind or can be bought on the door. Proceeds are to local charities Beach Access North East and the North East Assisted Ventilation Service (NEAVS) Fund.

Queen’s Birthday Honour for Bede Wind conductor

We are delighted to announce that our conductor Ernest Young has been named in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

Ernest, who has led the band since its launch in 1989, has been awarded a British Empire Medal for services to music.

He retired as Music Co-ordinator for South Tyneside Council after more than 30 years’ service with the authority, having previously been Head of Music at Springfield Comprehensive School in Jarrow.

Ernest has worked as an arranger and conductor for both the BBC and ITV and his compositions have featured on ‘Young Musician of the Year’ as well as all major examination syllabuses.

Much of the band’s music is either composed or arranged by Ernest, who has also written more than 150 compositions and arrangements for church choirs.

His characteristically modest response to his well deserved honour was a tribute to others he has worked with over the past five decades.

Ernest said: “I take this award as an acknowledgement of all of the fundraising carried out, and pleasure given,  by the music groups I have had the privilege of conducting over the past 50 years.”

Tickets on sale now for summer concert

Tickets have just gone on sale for our summer concert being held at St George’s Church, Cullercoats, next month.

Bede Wind will be accompanied by our special guest, mezzo soprano Anne Marie Owens, at the concert at 7pm on Saturday July 6th.

Tickets costing £6 can be purchased online via the link here, or you can pay on the door. Proceeds to local charities Beach Access North East and the North East Assisted Ventilation Service (NEAVS) Fund.

We hope to see you there!

Joint concert with Edinburgh University Wind Band

Bede Wind is being joined later this month by the European-bound Edinburgh University Wind Band for a joint concert in the heart of Newcastle.

The concert is being held at Brunswick Methodist Church, in Brunswick Place, just off Northumberland Street near Fenwick’s at 7pm on Wednesday May 29th.

Tickets costing £5 are on sale online here or can be purchased on the door.

EUWB always end their year with a European tour and will take the ferry from North Shields to Holland the following day.

If you can’t make the gig, check out our list of concerts for the rest of this year on our concerts page.

Happy 30th birthday Bede Wind!

This month the band celebrates its 30th anniversary. And 2019 promises to be another busy year for Bede Wind.

This year’s concert programme starts at one of our favourite venues – Trinity Church in Gosforth – on Saturday March 23rd, when we will be performing to raise funds for regional cancer charity Maggie’s Newcastle in conjunction with Newcastle Gosforth Rotary Club.

We are back at Trinity Church on Saturday April 27th playing alongside choirs to raise funds for Daft as a Brush’s Bluebell Bus appeal.

Other highlights this year include a joint concert with Edinburgh University Wind Band in May, outdoor gigs at Grey’s Monument and South Shields Amphitheatre in June, and the 21st Prom at Whitburn Parish Church in September.

We will also be performing at the Daft As A Brush Prom at the City Hall, Newcastle on Friday and Saturday October 18th and 19th and end the year with our annual Christmas concert at King’s Hall, Newcastle, on Saturday December 21st.

The band is also planning a European concert tour in Holland in late July.

We look forward to seeing you at one of our upcoming events. Find a full list of concerts here.

Buy tickets online for Christmas concert at Kings Hall

Tickets are on sale online now for our annual Christmas concert at Kings Hall, Newcastle, next month.

‘Spirit of Christmas’ is a joint concert with Bede Chorus and promises a feast of Christmas tunes.

It is being held at the hall at Newcastle University on Queen Victoria Road on Saturday December 15th, starting 7.30pm.

Tickets costing £8, including a glass of wine or a soft drink, can be purchased online via Ticketsource here.

Alternatively, contact us at hello@bedewind.com and we can arrange to reserve ticket(s) for you to pay on the door.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Band plays at charity’s festive lights switch on

Players from Bede Wind performed as a stunning display of Christmas lights was switched on at charity Daft As A Brush’s Gosforth headquarters.

Daft as a Brush House has been decorated with 40,000 lights, one for each of the journeys ferrying cancer patients around the region the charity completed this year.

The lights were switched on by Professor Sir John Burn, chairman of Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, on Wednesday evening as local schoolchildren sang carols.

See coverage of the event in tonight’s Evening Chronicle.