On the weekend of November 14-15, 2009, Salvationists in Toronto and nearby Whitby, Ontario, were treated to a little taste of “The Rock.” The occasion was the visit of St. John’s Citadel Band, which travelled from Newfoundland to take part in the Canadian Staff Band’s Fall Festival and march in the Toronto Santa Claus Parade.

 

Visiting band members were kept busy from the moment they arrived, presenting a concert to a packed house at Whitby Community Church on Friday evening. The audience appreciated the warmth and humour of the guest musicians who presented a variety of music to suit all tastes.

 

After a busy day of rehearsals on Saturday, the visiting group joined the Canadian Staff Band and Ontario Central-East Divisional Youth Chorus to present an enjoyable concert at Scarborough Citadel. Participating in the program were Commissioner William W. Francis, territorial commander, and Lt-Colonel Alf Richardson, divisional commander for Newfoundland and Labrador. CSB items included William Himes’ festival march Milestone and the bright and energetic Hallelujah! by James Curnow, as well as two larger works, Robert Redhead’s Corpus Christiand Dmitri Shostakovich’s lively Festive Overture, arranged by William Gordon.

 

The youth chorus under leader Cathie Koehnen added significantly to the program with their enthusiastic presentations of Praise the Lord, All You Servants of the Lord, an arrangement of Psalm 134 by Canadian Jason Locke, and the dynamic Alive Forever Amen. More meditative selections included Come to the Water and Nothing But Thy Blood with soloist Melanie Pond.

 

St. John’s Citadel Band under Bandmaster Derrick Moore showed the diversity of their repertoire by playing everything from the contemporary song arrangement Make His Praise Glorious to Eric Ball’s classic The Kingdom Triumphant. In between the audience was treated to Barrie Gott’s Swingtime Religion, Len Ballantine’s Wade in the Water, Brian Bowen’s stirring festival march The Southern Cross, and cornet soloist Aaron Tansley in To Worship, a meditative setting of the familiar worship chorus I Love You, Lord. A particular highlight was the band’s moving rendition of John Williams’ Hymn to the Fallen from the 1998 film Saving Private Ryan. This was presented as a tribute to Canada’s fallen soldiers from the current Afghanistan conflict, and during the music pictures were shown of all 133 Canadians who had lost their lives since the mission began in 2002. Afterwards the audience stood for a moment of silence to honour their memory.

 

The evening concluded with the massed bands playing Norman Bearcroft’s scintillating Songs of Newfoundland (pictured above), with of course the audience (many of them Newfoundlanders) standing for the majestic Ode to Newfoundland at the conclusion. Then it was off to billets in preparation for the day ahead.

 

On Sunday morning, the visiting band participated in worship at Toronto's Bloor Central Corps. The guest band presented Dean Goffin's The Light of the World and the CSB sang O My Jesus. Then it was off to march in the 105th annual Toronto Santa Claus Parade. With the St. John’s Citadel Band and Canadian Staff Band, as well as players from many other corps bands in and around Toronto and southern Ontario, this year’s group of 165—including territorial and divisional leaders, the colour party and timbrellists—was the largest since The Salvation Army re-commenced participating in this event in 2005. It was a tremendous witness to the 500,000 who lined the parade route as well as the millions more who watched the event on TV throughout Canada and around the world.

 

The Canadian Staff Band was pleased to host the Newfoundland visitors for what it hopes to become an annual event on its fall calendar. Plans are already well underway for next year’s Fall Festival and Parade weekend. Details will be announced in due course.