Eikanger in fine form at the BrassWind Festival
Eikanger-Bjorsvik impressed at the BrassWind Festival in Bergen on Saturday 28th September. To coincide with the band’s 70th Anniversary Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen, the event organizer, invited the to perform at the high profile festival. Band spokesperson Viggo Bjørge commented on the invitation, "The BrassWind Festival has become an important artistic event and one that enables major works to be showcased. We were delighted to return in our 70th anniversary year and our thanks go to the organisers." It was the band’s first appearance since 2005 and they proved beyond doubt that they were well worth the wait.
The band performed several major works under the baton of MD Reid Gilje, choosing to open their programme with Robert Simpson’s ‘Vortex’. Dedicated to fellow composer John Pickard, this was Simpson’s last work for brass band; Eikanger breathed new life into this rarely heard work and set a high bar for the rest of the evening.
The band’s solo trombone player and Principal of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra Vidar Norli delighted the audience as the featured lead in John Mackey's 'Hymn to the Blue Hour'. The band was also in its element performing Geir Lysne’s jazz inspired ‘Aurora Borealis’.
The heavy weight programme also included Stig Nordhagen's 'Ground — Dream Sequences', a four movement work commissioned by Eikanger, 'Immortal Bach', based on the hymn tune 'Kom susser Tod' that pays tribute to Knut Nystedt, with John Mackey's 'Asphalt Cocktail' providing the perfect concert finale. This was a concert of the very highest standards by the Norwegian National champions.
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