Banda Sinfónica in Cincinnati
When your ensemble is selected to represent your country at an international conference, what do you play? Do you play a piece that makes your band sound fantastic? Do you work on challenging repertoire to impress your colleagues? Or do you bring something to this international conference that screams, "¡Sí, somos de España!"
As part of the WASBE 2009 conference, the Banda Sinfónica del Centre Artístic Musical de Bétera performed on Monday night's concert (July 6), and if you didn't figure out what country the band was from, you are pretty dense. Four out of five pieces performed were by Spanish composers, and those pieces had someone manning the castanets station. (Actually, the castanets guys was awesome - he had one set of castanets in his right hand and another orchestra set nearby. Also, the old guy holding the Spanish flag throughout the concert is also my hero. He reminded me of Fernando Castillo Saavedra.)
Besides their selection of repertoire, one interesting characteristic abo…
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