Visitors to Kensington Gardens were treated to an afternoon of brass music on Sunday 14 June, as the Epsom & Ewell Silver Band performed at the historic Kensington Gardens Bandstand.
The concert, which began at 2.30pm under bright June skies, was part of the Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens Bandstand Concerts, co-organised by The Royal Parks and its Friends groups.
For two hours, the bandstand, a short stroll from Kensington Palace and the Round Pond, became the musical heart of the park. Passers-by, tourists and brass band enthusiasts paused their Sunday afternoon walks to set up deckchairs or gather on the grass, forming an appreciative crowd.
Under the direction of Musical Director Tariq Ahmed, the band delivered a varied programme. The performance reflected the standard that earned the Surrey-based group a strong result at the London and Southern Counties First Section Regional Championships earlier this spring.
The programme included traditional brass band marches, contemporary arrangements of film themes and show tunes, and melodic pieces that showed the band’s balance, precision and warm tone.
The afternoon captured the charm of a British summer in one of London’s best-known green spaces. By the time the final notes sounded at 4.30pm, the band was met with warm applause from an audience reluctant for the music to end.
“Hearing a top-tier silver band like Epsom & Ewell playing in the heart of the Royal Parks is exactly what summer in London is about,” said one local attendee. “The acoustic warmth of the brass floating across the gardens was just spectacular.”
Those who missed the Kensington Gardens performance will have further opportunities to hear the band closer to home this summer.
The band’s annual Summer Concert takes place on Sunday 12 July, from 5pm to 7pm, in the Walled Garden at the Old Moat Garden Centre & Café, Horton Lane, Epsom.
It will also perform at a free community Band in the Park event at Rosebery Park, Epsom, on Sunday 9 August, from 2pm to 4pm.
The Kensington Gardens concert was another reminder of the continuing contribution made by the Epsom & Ewell Silver Band to the local arts scene, whether competing regionally or performing for wider audiences.
For ticket bookings for the Walled Garden concert, or for information about joining the band, visit www.eesb.org.uk.
Steven McCormick