{"id":158317,"date":"2023-06-06T15:31:51","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T19:31:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/?p=158317"},"modified":"2023-06-07T12:30:27","modified_gmt":"2023-06-07T16:30:27","slug":"the-sackville-citizens-band-is-back-with-celebration-concert-wednesday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/the-sackville-citizens-band-is-back-with-celebration-concert-wednesday\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sackville Citizens Band is back with \u2018celebration\u2019 concert Wednesday"},"content":{"rendered":"

The last time Rob McLeod was on stage at the Brunton Auditorium, it was 1982 and he was performing his graduation recital as part of the Mount Allison music programme. Fast forward 41 years, and McLeod is back to hit the stage again, this time as conductor of the renewed and revitalized Sackville Citizens Band. The band making its comeback on Wednesday night at the Brunton Auditorium.<\/p>\n

CHMA sat down with McLeod and the band\u2019s organizing force, French horn player Bill Costin, to talk about the concert, the band\u2019s history, and its future:<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThe band is back,\u201d says Costin. \u201cWe have our first spring concert in three years.\u201d The last time the band performed together was December 2019. When the pandemic struck a few months later, things went into limbo for a few years, but about a month ago, players started gathering and rehearsing, and are ready to perform their comeback \u201ccelebration\u201d concert on Wednesday, says Costin.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a long tradition here and we\u2019d like to continue it,\u201d says Costin. The band formed officially in 1902, and served on and off as a military band in the decades since. \u201cThere\u2019s pictures of us in the First World War marching the soldiers down to the train station where they were sent off to fight,\u201d says Costin.<\/p>\n

McLeod says the band is a standard concert band, featuring brass, woodwinds and percussion, with a varied repertoire. There\u2019s about 25 musicians in the band currently, including many retired professionals, and McLeod says he\u2019s still hoping it will grow. \u201cWe\u2019re fielding an incredibly strong team, but there are parts that are missing,\u201d says McLeod.<\/p>\n

Both McLeod and Costin have their musical roots in the Sackville Citizens Band, and can recall playing under the direction of longtime director Charlie Estabrooks. \u201cIt\u2019s quite an honour for me to come back,\u201d says McLeod, \u201cand sort of carry on that legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

McLeod is a Sackville native who has lived in Vancouver for the past 35 years, \u201cdoing everything from conducting to music education to performing.\u201d He\u2019s been returning home annually for about 25 years, and has now decided, \u201cit\u2019s time to move home and be a part of this community again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The concert Wednesday is called Longing, Belonging, Loss, and Love<\/em>, with music evoking those four themes. \u201cCOVID has been a very difficult situation for everybody,\u201d says Costin. \u201cAnd during that time, there has been a sense of loss of belonging, there has been loss. And what\u2019s bringing us back is the love of music.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a treat to play very emotional music,\u201d says Costin. \u201cSome of it just sends shivers up your backbone.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sackville Citizens Band spring concert<\/a> takes place Wednesday June 7, at 7:30pm at the Brunton Auditorium in the Mt A conservatory of music on Main Street in Sackville.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The last time Rob McLeod was on stage at the Brunton Auditorium, it was 1982 and he was performing his graduation recital as part of the Mount Allison music programme. Fast forward 41 years, and McLeod is back to hit the stage again, this time as conductor of the renewed and revitalized Sackville Citizens Band.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":158329,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[57,219],"tags":[26814,741,26815,26778],"radio":[227],"origine":[274,275,277],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158317"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158317"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":158605,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158317\/revisions\/158605"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158317"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=158317"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=158317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}