latest news

Bella Tromba and Kanye West

on August 23 2007, by Jo

August is usually a quiet time for musicians and after the frantic June and July Bella Tromba had we've all welcomed the break. However Friday did bring a very unusual and late call for the group…


Mid morning I had a call from a fixer wanting to book Bella Tromba for a session at Abbey Road Studios that very evening. Unfortunately Nicole, Jo and Vickie are all on well deserved holidays at the moment, but this seemed like too good an oppurtunity to turn down so I called in Bella Tromba deputies Katie Hodges and Heidi Sutcliffe.

The booking was for a rehearsal on Friday and gig on Monday for rapper and producer Kanye West. This was a really unusual and exciting gig for me, I've always harboured a desire to be a bit of a rock star (I know, I know, I picked the wrong instrument!) and this is probably the closest I will ever get.



The horn section was quite a last minute addition to the band, so when we arrived at the rehearsal on Friday there was no music for us, quite a scary experience. We wrote our own parts from a combination of the existing string and harp parts and certain 'stab' chords that Kanye specifically wanted. I've never worked like this before but it was good fun trying out different things, although a little scary once the man himself arrived a couple of hours into the rehearsal.


The gig on Monday was part of the Vodaphone TBA series, 'secret' concerts which are announced at the last minute with free tickets given to fans who have entered competitions. It was at the Methodist Central Hall in Westminster, an unlikely sounding venue for a rap gig!


When you see strings and brass accompanying bands they are often wearing black at the back of the stage, Kanye West likes to do things a little differently though…

The look for Monday's concert was part android, part dolly mixture with the band in plastic neon dresses with matching trainers made by Reebok especially for the concert. We spent hours in hair and make up having silver glittery masks painted on to our faces and our hair put into incredibly high ponytails with lots of long fake hair added. Not our usual Bella Tromba concert wear!


The concert was really spectacular, Kanye West really knows how to put on a show. I have to admit that it's not the sort of music I normally listen to but Kanye West is a very charismatic performer, a genuine musician and a perfectionist who knows exactly how he wants things to sound and look.


It was worth the strange looks I got as I sat on the tube after the concert covered in glitter with masses of fake hair!


Kanye West's Vodaphone TBA gig will be shown on Channel 4 on September 4th and again on September 8th.


-----

Bella Tromba returns to BBC Radio 3 on Tuesday 17th July

on July 16 2007, by Jo

Bella Tromba have been invited back to play on BBC Radio 3's "In Tune" Programme (90-93 Fm) with Sean Rafferty. We will be interviewed and be performing Six Pieces D'Audition I II by Jean-Michel Defaye, Concerto for Four Violins by Telemann and Lift Thine Eyes from Elijah by Mendelssohn, both arranged by M. Greig, live on Tuesday 17th July at 5.15pm. If you miss it, you can download it for up to a week afterwards from the BBC website.


After playing on the radio we will be dashing off to Cheltenham. We are playing at the Festival in the Pump Rooms the following day. We have managed to cram rehearsals around all of our busy schedules, quite often at anti-social hours! We are excited about performing the new commissions and are looking forward to playing at Cheltenham.


-----

Listen out for Bella Tromba on Radio 3

on December 14 2006, by Jo

Bella Tromba have been invited to appear on BBC Radio 3 (90-93FM) on the "In Tune" programme on Thursday 21st December. The programme is on between 17.00 and 19.30. We will be performing live and will be interviewed. Bella Tromba are appearing as part of the run up to the Park Lane Young Artists Concert Series. We are all very excited about playing, so make sure you tune in!


The run up to Christmas is always a busy time of year with so many concerts taking place all over London and throughout the country. It is our favourite time of year! In amongst all of these different concerts we are also trying to squeeze in rehearsals for the Park Lane recital in the Purcell Room in January before we all disappear for Christmas. We are learning the new pieces commissioned for the group by Paul Edlin, Giles Easterbrook and Howard Skempton for the concert.



We would all like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Bella Tromba in Wales

on June 19 2006, by Jo

Bella Tromba travelled up to Wales on the afternoon of Sunday 11th June, in the roasting heat, with a car filled to the brim ready for our busy and exciting week ahead. My car has never been so full we had with us about 10 trumpets between us, mutes, hosepipes, clothes and ball dresses; there was not an inch to spare! Jo was squeezed in the back, I was driving and Clare was my chief navigator (as she is the only one who can read a map!). Vicky came down from Manchester on the train, which was probably a good thing as there was not even space for her on the way up!


We started our week with three days of Live Music Now! concerts. We played in a complete mix of special schools and pupil referral units, in the areas surrounding Cardiff and Newport. We gave interactive concerts at each of the schools. The concerts changed depending on the needs of the school and the age range. We included a full range of music, from pieces that they would recognize including Harry Potter, to Bach right through to contemporary music and jazz. We explained as we went along how our instruments worked, this included a lovely rendition of Handel's Water Music by Clare and Vicky played on hosepipes! We got some fantastic responses, with the children getting fully involved in the music, playing percussion along with us. They were also amazing listeners and it was really great to play amongst the children as they love seeing the instruments up close.


On Wednesday afternoon, after playing in the schools we moved our base from Cardiff to Treorchy, where we stayed for the rest of the week. On Thursday we gave a recital at the Parc and Dare Theatre. Our recitals always provoke great interest as most of the audience have never heard a trumpet quartet and they are nicely surprised by the variety we can create and by the range of music we have. In amongst our activities we managed to fit in a few rehearsals to look at new pieces that we have found and ones that we have had arranged for us.



Then the Welsh Brass Arts Festival began, kicking off with the concert "Electric Brass" with the Parc and Dare Band. Before the concert Bella Tromba played at the pre-show presentation. "Electric Brass" was a boundary breaking concert, showing contemporary music in a new light, including new music especially composed for the event. The audience was not familiar with this type of music and found the concert highly enjoyable. It included Steve Bingham playing electric violin, which was fascinating and Catrin Finch on harp. We shared a dressing room with Catrin, which was fun and she was very friendly and interesting to talk to and she is an amazing performer. We opened this concert with "Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman No.5" by Joan Towers from very high up in the gods of the theatre (good job none of us are scared of heights as it was really high!).


On Saturday morning we began by recording with Tim A. Duncan. We recorded some of our own pieces and we recorded some fanfares from "Swan Lake", which will be used in the show on ice. This show is starting in Sydney Opera House in a couple of weeks and then will be in the UK at the Wales Millennium Centre for three weeks over Christmas.



The Festival then came to a close with the "Big Anthem Fawr" concert, which featured Bella Tromba as soloists, Parc and Dare Band and the Ravensburg Stadtorchestra from Germany. The first half closed with Sword and the Crown by Edward Gregson. We were playing the off-stage parts, from the balcony in the theatre. Then we made a mad dash to the dressing rooms to put on our ball dresses for the second half. Bella Tromba featured as soloists, playing "Concert Gallop", the Harry James Trumpet Concerto and finished with "Bugler's Holiday", arranged for the four of us by Clare in between doing our Live Music Now concerts! We really enjoyed playing in front of the band and we had some lovely comments from the audience afterwards. We came back on at the very end of the concert to play the fanfares for the national anthem. After the concert we went along to the reception where talked to a number of people, including the composer Mick Wilson who was very interesting. We also talked to the German orchestra and they enjoyed our playing and were interested in having us travel over there sometime next year, which would be fun.


We ended our tour in Wales at the Millennium Centre in Cardiff, giving our own recital. It was lovely to play there and lots of people stopped to listen. We played a huge variety of pieces, including a few new pieces. We also got some good pictures of us during and after we played outside the Millennium Centre. Then it was back into the cramped car (we left some things behind so that Vicky could fit in) for our long drive home, arriving back very tired but after a really enjoyable week!

Brass Chamber Music

on March 02 2006, by Jo

Anyone who has ever been involved in a brass chamber group will probably have come across resistance at some point. Responses range from, "it might be a bit loud for our audience", to, "but what do you play", and the classic, "I'm sorry we only use CHAMBER musicians".


Well the last couple of weeks have been great for the cause of promoting brass chamber music and its growing repertoire.


Last week, Paul Archibald invited some of his friends over for a week of recording sessions and a concert at the Royal College of Music. Hans Gansch (ex Vienna Phil), Gabor Tarkovi (Principal, Berlin Phil), Florian Klinger (Principal, Munich Phil) were amongst the phenomenal trumpet players that are recording for Brass Classics.


I went along to hear the recording session for Khaldis by Hovhaness. It's a great piece for Four Trumpets, Piano and Percussion, and one we are performing ourselves on March 10th. The rest of the repertoire is also really interesting and I know I will be buying the CD when it comes out!


On saturday night Vicky got out her note pad and pen and went to St. James, Piccadilly, to review an LPO Brass Concert which you will be able to read all about in the next Brass Herald magazine. And last night i went to the Royal College of Music to watch London Brass. They were good fun: all the usual classics plus a new work by the Serbian composer Isidora Zebeljan called "The Ghost from the Pumpkin". What a great title!



So it's good news for brass chamber music. There's lots going on and some fantastic new pieces being written or lying undiscovered. I haven't finished typing our repertoire list for the site yet (sorry Clare, I will do it soon…), but when it appears have a look and let me know your opinions.


-----