Hannaford Street Silver Band

The brass instruments played in the band (with the exception of the trombones and percussion) are in the saxhorn family and include cornets, a flugelhorn, tenor and baritone horns, a euphonium, tubas, trombones, timpani, and percussion. It normally functions without a conductor but on occasion has hired guest conductors, including Morley Calvert, Stephen Chenette, Wayne Jeffrey, James McKay, Bramwell Tovey, and English brass music composer Edward Gregson. Its repertoire includes works from the 16th to the 20th centuries, including works by Canadian composers. Many arrangements are by Gordon Langford or Howard Snell or by band members.

The band's annual concert series began in 1983 at Little Trinity Church and, in 1989, moved to the Jane Mallett Theatre. A number of choirs have been guests at the band's Christmas concerts, including the Hart House Chorus (1985-6), the McMaster University Choir (1987), the Tallis Singers(1988), the Bell'Arte Singers (1989), and the Orpheus Choir (1990). It performed in the film 'The Boy in Blue' about the 19th-century Toronto rower Ned Hanlon (1985, International Cinema) and in 1988 toured to eastern Canada and used the tour program as the basis for its CBC recording The Hannaford Street Silver Band with conductor Stephen Chenette (1988, CBC SMCD-5103). The disc includes works by Calvert, Lavallée, Herbert L. Clarke, J. Scott Irvine, and Leonard Ballantine among others.

The band has commissioned and premiered works such as Leonard Ballantine's Hannaford Street March (1985); Gary Kulesha's Soundings for Boat, Bay, and Brass (1985 at the Festival of the Sound, later broadcast by the CBC), tuba player J. Scott Irvine's Hannaford Overture (1986 at Music at Sharon, also broadcast by CBC); John Beckwith's arrangements of five songs from 19th-century Canada (also at Music at Sharon 1986, commissioned by the festival), Malcolm Forsyth's Songs from the Qu'apelle Valley (1987); and Irvine's Concertino for Euphonium and Brass Band (1988) and Bring on the Brass (1990), recorded, along with nine other works, with R. A. Herriot conducting and Leo McKern narrating, on the CD of the same name (MRP CD-108); it also premiered the brass version of Kulesha's Romance, (1989)

The Hannaford Street Silver Band was incorporated in 1986 and introduced in 1990 an affiliated Hannaford Street Youth Band, conducted by Curtis Metcalf and Raymond Tizzard.

Author Durrell Bowman

Bibliography

Citron, Paula 'Brass players put silver together for fun,' Toronto Star, 5 Dec 1989

Links to Other Sites
Canadian Band Association
The Canadian Band Association website features links to bands across Canada, events, and related resources.

Hannaford Street Silver Band
The website for the Hannaford Street Silver Band. the award-winning professional brass band and Resident Company of Toronto’s St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts. Check out their performance calendar and discography, musician profiles, and more.

Classical Archives
Browse or search this extensive site for biographies, discographies, and brief audio excerpts from recordings featuring Canadian and international classical composers and performers. Also search for details and audio clips of Canadian orchestras and other classical music groups. Subscription required to access full tracks.

St Lawrence Centre for the Arts
The website for the St Lawrence Centre for the Arts in Toronto. Check out the resident performing arts companies and the podcasts for ST Lawrence Centre Forums on various topics.

Heavy Metal
Scroll down the page for a brief review of a recording featuring The Hannaford Street Silver Band, Joe Macerollo, and others. From the WholeNote magazine.