The Silent ANZAC Remembrance Day Performance
Footscray-Yarraville City Band is extremely excited to announce we are performing our self produced show commemorating those who served in WWI, The Silent ANZAC, at Exhibition Hall at Australia house in London on the 11th November 2018.This coincides with the 100th anniversary of Armistice, and will be a truly special occasion not to be missed. More information can be found here, and tickets can be purchased here. Be sure to secure tickets as soon as possible, as a sellout crowd is anticipated.
FYCB to Perform with Durham University Brass Band
We are pleased to announce that we will be performing with the Durham University Brass Band on the 15th November 2018. The Durham University Brass Band is a vibrant society committed to showing the university the meaning of banding! Based in the university’s music department, the band rehearses weekly and puts on regular concerts, perform for a variety of events and also participate in a national brass band competition.
The Silent Anzac Show Line Up Announced
Margaret Haggart, “The Mother”
Margaret studied singing with Antonio Moretti-Pananti. In 1972 her professional career began in the UK, with Welsh National Opera, singing Queen of Night & Gilda (Rigoletto). Principal roles followed with ENO, Scottish Opera North, English Music Theatre, R.Albert Hall Prom Concerts & BBC Radio & TV. She performed with Nancy Opera & the Orange Festival in France, and Santiago Opera in Chile. Home in Melbourne from 1984, she appeared with VSO, all State Companies, Opera Australia, most major Festivals, most Symphony Orchestras, and ABC simulcasts locally, and worked in NZ., Italy, Singapore & USA.Danielle Matthews, “The Girl”
Danielle is an actor/singer/songwriter who studied Music Theatre at the Victorian College of the Arts and is the inaugural winner of The Rob Guest Endowment Award. She has worked in shows and concerts throughout Australia and across the world including – An Evening with Stephen Sondheim, Respect the Musical (Australia Tour), Big Band Beat (Tokyo Disney), Another Opening Another Show (Manilla St Productions), Ship of Fools (Gary Young), TRIBE (Anthony Crowley) Twisted Broadway, Light the Night, Hats Off, Musical Melodies, Carols by Candlelight, Morning Melodies, Sing for a Cure and The Helpmann awards, just to name a few. Danielle has performed live on Good Morning Australia, Mornings with Kerri Anne, It Takes Two. Danielle has spent the past three years performing with acclaimed opera singer and TV personality Dr Jonathan Welch AM (Choir of Hard Knocks).
Joe Stanley, “The Soldier”
Joe attained a BA/Music at NMIT 2001-2004. He has performed in blues, rock and metal bands around Australia and Europe and has also appeared on TV in Australia, the UK and the US, including Neighbours, Something in the Air, Russell Gilbert Show, Comedy Sketch series, The Line. During 2008 Joe lived and worked in the UK and France, and returned to Australia in time for summer with a new love of singing. He is currently working on several music projects, vocalist for two heavy rock/metal bands , Pegazus and British Steel and guitarist/vocalist for heavy metal band Turret.
Phillipa Edwards, Musical Director
Phillipa studied trumpet at the Victorian College of the Arts and has studied under brass luminaries, Gordon Webb, Mark Summerbell and Rob Smithies. She studied conducting with Professor David King and Steve Bastable (UK) as well as Dr Barry Bignell and Brett Kelly (MSO). Her experience as a conductor is both extensive and varied and she has worked all over Australia with Concert, Stage and Brass bands, Symphony Orchestras, Choirs and small ensembles. Phillipa is a regular conductor with Melbourne Youth Music and has also worked with Dr Johnathon Welch OAM and his Choir of Hard Knocks Foundation. Phillipa was awarded the 2007 “Musical Director of the Year” by the Victorian Band’s League.
Jamie Lawson, Principal Cornet
Jamie has been a member of the Footscray-Yarraville City Band for over 20 years holding the band’s principal chair for 19 years. In that time he has held a position in the Royal Australian Navy band and worked extensively as a freelance musician appearing on stage and in commercial recordings playing trumpet, flugelhorn and cornet. His busy performance schedule sees him regularly travel to perform as a guest artist both throughout Australia and New Zealand, is the events coordinator and performer with National Australia Brass and is a keen educator and conductor. Jamie is four times Victorian cornet champion and, in 2011, was invited to perform at the ‘Ern Kellar’ International Soloist of the Year in Sydney.Jamie currently teaches trumpet, horn and ensembles at St Kevin’s College and holds a Bachelor of Performance (Salford University UK and Melbourne University), a graduate diploma of Secondary Teaching (University of New England) and is a ‘Geneva Instruments’ performance artist.
Box Hill North Primary School to Launch Silent Anzac Project
Silent Anzac project partners Box Hill North Primary School will be launching their own Silent Anzac project to commemorate our service men and women and to mark 100 years since the end of WW1. Students are invited to make a poppy and dedicate it to a WW1 service man or woman. These poppies will be laid at the Australian National Memorial, Villers Bretonneux, France, by the band in November 2018 as part of the official Armistice Centenary events. This ceremony will be live streamed and recorded for viewing by the school students. The students are also invited to research their chosen service man or women utilising online resources to search for WW1 soldiers who lived in their street and to review their service records. Students may also wish to dedicate their poppy to a great grandparent or great great uncle who served in WW1.The students will have an opportunity to display their poppies and other WW1 related project work to the general public at the band’s performance of The Silent Anzac show at the Whitehorse Centre, Nunawading, on 30th September. The poppies and wreaths will be officially handed over to the band at a Remembrance service at school assembly on 26th October.This project provides the opportunity for the students to have a personal involvement in the commemoration of our service men and women and
to mark the centenary of Armistice of WW1. If your school would like to be involved in the Silent Anzac project then please contact Colin Harrison of the Footscray-Yarraville City Band at secretary@fycb.com.au.
Online resources
The AIF Project (search for WW1 soldiers by address): https://aif.adfa.edu.au/aif/National Archives of Australia (search for service records of WW1 soldiers):https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/SearchScreens/NameSearch.aspx
FYCB launches GoFundMe campaign for European Tour
https://www.gofundme.com/the-039silent-anzac039-european-fundThe Footscray-Yarraville City Band is travelling to Europe in this November to commemorate the centenary of the Armistice of World War 1.With this in mind, today we launch the band’s fundraising appeal. This is an opportunity for our family, friends and the greater Australian and New Zealand community to be involved in this once in a lifetime event.The trip is almost entirely funded by the members of the band. This campaign will cover the costs of transporting our WW1 bass drum back to Europe, cover the costs of our solo artists, pay for venue and rehearsal hire whilst we're away and facilitate other performance-related expenses.Performances of our critically acclaimed show, 'The Silent ANZAC', will be the cornerstone of the tour with performances at Amiens Cathedral, Australia House, and Southwark Cathedral. The Silent ANZAC intertwines the story of the Australian submarine, the AE2, with other stories of love and loss from The Great War.We will also be performing at the ‘Last Post Ceremony’ at Menin Gate, which will be live-streamed back to Australia.A wreath-laying ceremony will be held at the Australian National Memorial in Villers-Bretonneux. The band will play Abide with Me and The Last Post whilst wreaths are laid. If you, your family or workplace wish to have a wreath laid on your behalf please click here, or contact Lorraine Wright, our Fundraising Coordinator, on 9578 3113 or 0415 138 148. This ceremony will be live-streamed back to Australia and posted to the internet for later viewing.
The Silent ANZAC European Tour Fundraising Launch
The Footscray-Yarraville City Band - with the assistance and support of Victorian High Commissioner, Ken Ryan AM and James Hancock of the Tait Foundation - will be travelling to Europe in November to commemorate the centenary of the Armistice.
With this in mind, today we launch the band's fundraising appeal. This is an opportunity for our family, friends and the greater Australian and New Zealand community to be involved in this once in a lifetime event.
Performances of our critically acclaimed show, The Silent ANZAC will be the cornerstone of the tour with performances at Amiens Cathedral, Australia House, and Southwark Cathedral. The Silent ANZAC intertwines tells the story of the Australian submarine, The AE2 with other stories of love and loss from The Great War.
We will also be performing at the ‘Last Post Ceremony’ at Menin Gate which will be live-streamed back to Australia.
A wreath laying ceremony will be held at the Australian National Memorial in Villers-Bretonneux. The band will play Abide with Me and The Last Post whilst wreaths are laid. If you, your family or workplace wish to have a wreath laid on your behalf please contact Lorraine Wright, our Fundraising Coordinator, on 9578 3113 or 0415 138 148. This ceremony will be live-streamed back to Australia and posted to the internet for later viewing.
Our new CD, The Endless Silence, tells The Silent ANZAC story, featuring William McInnes as the Poet, Margaret Haggart as the Mother, Danielle Matthews as the Girl, Joe Stanley as the Soldier and Jamie Lawson as the Bandsman. It is available through our website for $20 plus $5 p/h.
Next week will see our Crowdfunding kick off with a campaign to pay for our WWI bass drum and four soloists to travel to Europe for the tour.
Tax deductible donations toward the band can be made through the VBL ROCO account (put "Footscray Yarraville City Band" in the recipient's description):
Account Name: Victorian Bands League Inc Public Account
BSB: 013-481
Account Number: 2527-64584
Smaller donations can be made by clicking the donate button at the bottom of the page.
You can also support the band by attending our show The Silent ANZAC.
It's such a fantastic time to be a part of this wonderful band and we really hope you'll join us on this once in a century opportunity.
The Silent ANZAC production a huge success at Box Hill Town Hall
For the third time, The Silent ANZAC production was performed by Footscray-Yarraville City Band at the Box Hill Town Hall on Saturday 28th April. A near capacity audience experienced the untold stories of war told through music and poetry. The concert was hailed a great success, with the evening concluding with a rapturous standing ovation.A special thanks to our guest artists William McInnes, Margaret Haggart, Danielle Matthews and Joe Stanley as well as our Musical Director Phillipa Edwards. Also a special mention to our Principal Cornet Jamie Lawson whose superb solo playing put the icing on the cake. Special guests in attendance at the show were Cr Andrew Davenport (Mayor of Whitehorse), Cr Prue Cutts, Lyn Thurnham of the Catfish Foundation, Simon Abney-Hastings (Earl of Loudoun) and Graham Gibson, Secretary Rats of Tobruk Association.Footscray-Yarraville City Band is working with various organisations to put on the show again in Melbourne before taking it to Europe in early November.
William McInnes to star in local production of The Silent ANZAC
William McInnes, well known for his film and TV roles in shows such as Blue Heelers, Sea Change and The Time of our Lives, will be starring in a production of “The Silent Anzac” at the Box Hill Town Hall on Saturday 28th April 2018 at 8pm.Also starring Margaret Haggart (Opera Australia, Scottish Opera) and Danielle Mathews (An Evening with Stephen Sondheim), the show depicts the events of WW1 from the opening of the Gallipoli campaign to the closing months of the war.
Nationals 2018
The 2018 Easter long weekend saw Melbourne host the Australian National Band Championships with 78 competing bands and over 3,400 players. The event was held at several venues with exceptional performance facilities and concert halls including the Methodist Ladies College and Xavier College in Kew. The competition was a fantastic event and our congratulations and thanks go to the Victorian Bands League and in particular, Megan Stapleton (VBL President and event organiser) and her dedicated group of volunteers who made the event a real joy.
The format of the competition includes the stage performance of a set test work and an own choice hymn on Friday, a street march event on Saturday and the performance of an own choice major work and a stage march played on Sunday. The championships for the Open section brass bands are divided into 4 graded sections with bands competing within the appropriate section for their abilities.
This year the Footscray-Yarraville City Band competed with two band ensembles including Western Brass (Musical Director Erin Ellenburg) in the Open C grade section and the Footscray-Yarraville City Band (Musical Director Phillipa Edwards) in the Open A Grade section.
Western Brass had a great weekend in their first ever Nationals campaign and placed 3rd overall in a very strong section of twelve competing bands.
Footscray-Yarraville City Band have had great results at the last two National Championship with a 3rd place overall in the 2016 competition in Adelaide and a 2nd place last year in Launceston. The 2018 Nationals saw a field of 15 A-Grade bands including bands from New Zealand and South Korea. While our band did not achieve a podium place in this year’s stage event we did place first for the music category on the street march event and an overall 3rd for the street march section. Special thanks to Steve Semmler-Farr for a terrific arrangement of Michael Jackson’s ‘Don’t Stop til you get enough!’ for our music selection on the march!
Hyde Street Youth Band (Musical Director Jeroen Bentcourt), and Hyde Street Youth Band Junior Band (Musical Director Phillipa Edwards) also had a very successful weekend, with the Junior Band placing 3rd in the Junior C Grade Section. HSYB had an incredibly busy weekend, competing in both the Open D Grade (7th place), and winning the Junior B Grade!
The National Championships are a very important part of the band’s primary goals of Musical and Performance Excellence, and also encouraging young people to become involved in music with the positive effect it has on them and our community. Footscray-Yarraville City Band has a strong development program and is also actively involved in mentoring and providing support for Western Brass and Hyde Street Youth Band, and we had a number of junior players involved in solo and ensemble sections of the competition.
The Footscray-Yarraville City Band, together with our second band Western Brass and the Hyde Street Youth Band have established a strong community banding precinct in Footscray that ensures that our shared bandroom facility is well utilised and provides vital arts and cultural opportunities for new players and the wider community. We are also very excited about the opportunities that the recently launched Footscray-Yarraville City Percussion Academy will provide to young people in the Western Suburbs and are very grateful for the leadership and commitment of Katie Thomas as the principal tutor. We look forward to seeing her students involved in future National Band Championships!
We are very grateful for the continued support of the Maribyrnong City Council and we proudly represent our vibrant community when we perform at these National competitions.
It is a real joy to share the stage with an amazing group of people and play music together. Its all about mateship, supporting each other and doing the best you can. The reward is being able to play music, connect with the audience and leaving something special.
Photo credit: Jacqui Schulz[envira-gallery id="933"]
2018 Rehearsal Camp
In early March FYCB returned to Wonthaggi for our annual rehearsal weekend as part of our Nationals preparation for 2018. (Thanks again Wonthaggi for the use of your wonderful band room!)There are two major components of this weekend for most of us, playing awesome music with a great group of people, and the all important beach time on Saturday afternoon. Nothing clears the head quite like diving into the beautiful Cape Paterson rock pool of too cold water and giggling with fellow bandies. We managed to coerce 8 people into the rock pool this year, which is up nearly 50% on last years effort!In 2019 let's try for half of the band - get ready, bring your togs, try not to freeze and love the hot shower afterwards! Enjoy some photos of our players in action during the weekend. 
