From coal to brass to gold. The dark, gloomy
coal mines of Grimethorpe, located in Southern Yorkshire, produced
gold in the form of a prize-winning brass band, the Grimethorpe
Colliery (U.K. Coal) Band, whose extraordinary repertory–from
Wagner and Puccini to Brubeck and Berlin, has inspired sold out
houses throughout the world. Grimethorpe will finally make its New
York debut at Carnegie Hall on April 16 at 8pm under the baton of
its conductor Garry Cutt.
Formed by Yorkshire coal miners during World
War I and the model for the 1995, world-wide hit film "Brassed
Off" for which it provided the soundtrack, Grimethorpe is comprised
of 30 "professional amateurs," who take annual leave from
their day jobs as bricklayers, van drivers, and teachers in Yorkshire
to tour the world as prize-winning musicians. Not only do the group’s
spirited musicians rehearse twice a week in Grimethorpe to ensure
its reputation as the world’s leading brass band, the group
produces two to three best-selling CD’s a year. It recently
became the first brass band appointed to be an ensemble-in-residence
at London’s Royal College of Music.
The agility, imagination and virtuosity
of the musicians will be challenged at Carnegie in a program ranging
from Puccini to Rodrigo to Dvorak, as well as Irving Berlin, and
of course, one of the band’s signature works, Robert Browne
Hall’s "Death or Glory," the theme music from "Brassed
Off."
Financed by the colliery, a sister company,
and a welfare fund set up by the miners themselves, the band was
created in 1917 as a creative leisure activity for the workmen.
The miners perfected their musical skills through competitions.
(Between 1932 and 1945, it rated at least among the top five in
42 competitions, and since 1962, it placed in the top three 155
times out of 210 competitions throughout the world.)
In 1972 Grimethorpe hired a professional
conductor, Elgar Howarth, who added an important new musical dimension
by commissioning works from such avant-garde composers as Hans Werner
Henze and Sir Harrison Birtwistle. Under his leadership, the band
continued to thrive both in its musicianship and the variety of
its repertory.
Then in 1992 the Yorkshire mining community
suffered a disaster and the band, a potential setback, when Margaret
Thatcher closed the pits, including Grimethorpe. Five days after
the announcement of the closure, the band was to appear in the National
Brass Band Championships at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Despite
the anxiety of their uncertain future, the Grimethorpe musicians
triumphed; they were chosen the Champion Band of Great Britain.
The band’s fame was internationalized
through "Brassed Off," the story of the fictional South
Yorkshire village of Grimley whose band managed to win a national
competition after the closure of its colliery. The film, which won
a series of major prizes and its soundtrack–provided by Grimethorpe–
was nominated for a BAFTA award, starred Ewan McGregor, Pete Postlethwaite
and Tara Fitzgerald.
Following its performance at Carnegie, Grimethorpe
will present a series of concerts in England after which it will
tour Sweden in early July before returning to England for four more
concerts. The band is currently scheduling a major North American
tour in the summer of 2004 under the auspices of IMG Artists.
Tickets for the band’s Carnegie Hall
concert range between $25 and $75, and are available through CarnegieCharge
at 212-247-7800, on line at www.carnegiehall.org or at the Carnegie
Hall box office at 57th Street and Seventh Avenue in New York City.
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