Welcome to the home of the Orillia Silver Band. We are a community band in the traditional British Brass Band style who perform diverse concerts across the region ranging from the Orillia Jazz Festival to fundraising events to the Mariposa Folk Festival.
Welcome to our 2023-24 Concert Season!
Excursions
with the Orillia Silver Band
Neil Barlow, Conductor
The Orillia Silver Band invites you to explore the world of music through travel. Our Excursions Concert takes place on Saturday, May 4, 2024, 8:00 pm at the St. Paul’s Centre in Orillia. Concert tickets are available from the Orillia Silver Band website www.orilliasilverband.com and at the door. Adults $25, Seniors $20, Students $15.
The concert, under the direction of Neil Barlow, is a wonderful collection of compositions depicting life from all around the world.
Selections by the band include the modern march Concorde, commissioned by British Airways from Canadian composer Robert Farnon. We will feature our Trombone soloist, Laura Christie on another Canadian work, the superb Fantasy for Trombone by Elizabeth Raum.
With a brief stop on our trip in Coventry, England we’ll listen to the City of Three Spires by Leslie Condon. Jumping over to Spain, we’ll feature our flugelhorn soloist Debbie Silverthorne performing music of Chuck Mangione – The Children of Sanchez. Also included on the program is a stop in Palestine with Variations on Maccabeus by Kevin Norbury – a truly towering work from the brass band literature.
The program includes a life affirming world premier by composer Ty Watson, Together Again – commissioned by one of the band’s own members as a tribute to family. The band’s cornet section will take us to the Far West with a version of the theme from A Fistful of Dollars by Ennio Morricone. And, we’ll stop off in New York, to dance to some music by Duke Ellington – Caravan!
Please don’t miss this eclectic and entertaining evening of music!
Featured Events
There are no upcoming events at this time
Check out our Events page for details on all of our upcoming performances.
OSB Recordings
The OSB has recorded several CDs and videos for your enjoyment. You can hear our commissioned works that include Mariposa Sketches, A Life Well-Lived and the Railroad Trilogy on our 3 CDs (Mariposa Sketches, Christmas Time is Here, and Couchiching Classics). You can also follow us on our YouTube Channel (and Facebook too!!) where you can see A Life Well-Lived by Ty Watson and numerous videos recorded "at home" during the pandemic. If you are interested in purchasing a copy of a CD, just send us a note an we will give you the details.
Click here to listen to some samples.
What people are saying about us....
Entertainment writer John Swartz was at our May 28th "Serenade in Brass" concert in Orillia and said in SUNonline/Orillia (10 June 2023):
"This time my seat was not in the usual part of Gord’s Room I like to be, but in the third row. I’d sit up front all the time if I could. The change in perspective allowed me to zero in on sections of the ensemble and I have to say, even though I’ve often said the group plays extremely well, my angle of listening and view put the lower brass and middle voices in the line of fire and holy cow are they ever good. I think the best example of their exceptional playing was in a transcription for band of Beethoven’s Adagio from Sonata No. 8 (Pathetique). Getting the right tone from a section and playing with the sensitivity demanded of the work is not easy to do. It only takes one player to mess it up. The whole program was good. Each tune had elements most of the audience would be familiar with. I especially liked they put Robert Redhead’s arrangement of Gord’s Canadian Railroad Trilogy in the mix. I understand it was added for obvious reasons, which meant they didn’t have a ton of time to rehearse it. Robert was in the audience too. The band has a concert in Huntsville at the Algonquin Theatre July 15 and 16. They’ll be performing with Kyung-A Lee who has been the accompanist for the Cellar Singers. She’ll be playing Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the band’s arrangement by Neil Barlow. You can get tickets for that online. Otherwise we’ll have to wait until the fall to hear the band again."
Stay Updated
We send out an E-newsletter about 3 times a year to keep you up to date on OSB happenings and upcoming concerts. We also send out concert reminders for each of our concerts. Don't miss and OSB event. Join our newsletter list today!