Events

Open Rehearsal

Experience what a typical 2 hour rehearsal is like for Derwent Brass under the baton of MD Jack Capstaff as the band prepares for its appearance at the British Open Spring Festival.

Entry is completely free of charge!

The band will be rehearsing and performing 'The New Jerusalem', a work for brass band by the British composer Philip Wilby. It was commissioned by the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain, and first performed by them at City Hall, Salisbury in April 1990.

The New Jerusalem

The work was composed during the collapse of the Eastern Bloc. Wilby saw the Book of Revelation as forcefully reflecting the turbulence and optimism of contemporary political events. The title of the work is thus derived from Revelation 21:1-2:

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Wilby saw his work as representing "a sure triumph of the human spirit over oppression, a sense of liberty and resurrection drawn out of sorrow and pain". The off-stage solo cornet fanfares and the dynamic nature of the composition as a whole are designed to convey this sentiment.

The original version of The New Jerusalem was for a larger group of players. Wilby revised the work for a conventional number of brass band musicians and this version was used as the contest piece for the final of the 1992 National Brass Band Championship of Great Britain. The Grimethorpe Colliery Band won the competition with its performance of Wilby's piece not long after Grimethorpe Colliery's closure.

Venue:

Allestree Woodlands Theatre
Allestree Woodlands School
Blenheim Drive
Allestree
Derby
DE22 2LW

Time:

19:45 - 21:45