Bede Wind

As Bede Wind enters its fourth decade, 2020 promises to be another busy year for the band.

This year’s concert programme starts at one of our favourite venues – Trinity Church in Gosforth – on Saturday March 21st, when we will be performing with students from Gosforth Academy in conjunction with Newcastle Gosforth Rotary Club.

We are back at Trinity Church on Saturday April 25th playing in a choral concert with singers from choirs across the region to raise funds for Daft as a Brush’s Bluebell Bus appeal.

The band will be hoping for good weather at our outdoor concert at South Shields Amphitheatre on Sunday June 14th, but we are assured a warm welcome at Whitburn Prom on Friday September 25th – an annual fixture in Bede Wind’s calendar for more than 20 years.

We will also be performing at the Daft As A Brush Prom at the City Hall, Newcastle on Friday and Saturday October 16th and 17th and end the year with our annual Christmas concert at Trinity Church on Saturday December 19th.

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

In the meantime, keep in touch by following us on Facebook.

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!

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

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 30^th 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 6^th.

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.

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 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!

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.