Countdown

Recalling the Harmonie of the past, welcoming back former members and commemorating times gone by when Emile Zola played his clarinet, our special guest clarinettist Olivier Derbesse helped us to jazz things up today. A terrific rehearsal at St Marc Jaumegarde, focus on costumes and the countdown to Concert-day has definitely begun. Click on photos to enlarge.

More from behind the scenes

Our second Saturday rehearsal went well, we were joined by the children and the adult choirs giving a refreshing new dimension to the newly created work we are preparing. The children, from the age of seven, and who, despite being terribly excited to be a part of this event, are already well-rehearsed and quite impressively well-behaved. A good example to the adults! It's really encouraging to see such young children gaining so much pleasure from music.

Each week we all contribute a dish and share a great buffet at lunchtime. This week there were many new people to meet, to chat to and to eat with and almost no time left to take photos. However, after lunch I just managed to take just a few before we began the afternoon session. By the way click on the photos to enlarge.

 

Centenary Concert, Harmonie Municipale

In less than a month the Harmonie Municipale d'Aix-en-Provence will be celebrating its centenary year with a big concert in the Grand Théatre de Provence, in Aix. It's hard to believe that any organisation such as this can exist for such a long time but just proves the dedication and motivation of all its members, past and present. As one of its current members I can boast that I belong to the same Concert Band as Paul Cezanne, who took part on his cornet, and Emile Zola on his clarinet, however, just not at the same time!

Some members have belonged to the Harmonie for an extraordinary length of time. For one tuba player it's his 56th year, having first joined at the age of 18, his father having played saxophone before him, and our conductor has kept his post for 42 years. We are determined to give the public a concert to remember and to that end have started giving up our entire Saturdays for extra rehearsals in the run-up to the big day on December 8th.

Yesterday in Jouques

We will be joined by some former band members for the occasion, some of whom have since become professional musicians. The clarinettist Olivier Derbesse will be coming from Paris to contribute some special solos, and the second half of the concert will be devoted to the performance of a work written especially for the occasion and for which we will also be joined by two choirs, one adult and one childrens', bringing the numbers on stage to over 200. The music will cover many different styles and periods and there will be plenty to keep you happily entertained and your feet tapping.

More behind-the-scenes photos will follow on this blog as things progress.

To find out more about the concert and to book up, please visit our centenary website where you can see photos of the players and find out lots more about us.

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