On the weekend of November 20-21, 2010, Salvationists in Toronto and Hamilton were privileged to host the Rockford Temple Band from Rockford, Illinois, U.S.A. Central Territory, which travelled to southern Ontario 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 an appreciative audience at Meadowlands Corps, Hamilton, on Friday evening. The audience appreciated the presentations of the guest band under the direction of Bandmaster Steve Sjogren and featuring world-renowned soloist Mark Ridenour, a Salvationist and assistant principal trumpet of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
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. CSB items included Leonard Ballantine’s Ein Feste Burg, Martin Cordner’s The Name, Kevin Norbury’s Rhapsody on a Theme by Purcell, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Dance of the Tumblers (arr. Wilfred Heaton) and the premier of a new piece, Deep Harmony, by young Canadian composer Marcus Venables.
The youth chorus under leader Cathie Koehnen added significantly to the program with their energetic presentations of I’m Gonna Sing Till the Spirit Moves in My Heart and Shackles, and the more meditative selections Your God Will Come and God So Loved the World.
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Rockford Temple Band showed their diversity by playing everything from their signature march Rockford Temple (written by Emil Soderstrom more than 50 years ago) to William Broughton’s trombone ensemble Glory Be! In between the audience was treated to William Himes’ So Glad! (featuring Mark Ridenour on flugel horn), Martin Cordner’s Round-Up, and the Finale from William Tell’s William Tell Overture (arr. Dean Goffin). Two pieces were featured that were written and conducted by resident composers within the band: Stan Kelley’s march Peru Cien and George Strombeck’s Day of Pentecost.
In addition to all of the above, soloist Mark Ridenour was featured along with the CSB’s Steve Brown in Peter Graham’s scintallating cornet duet Quicksilver, accompanied by the staff band.
The evening concluded with the massed bands playing Neils Silfverberg’s march True Colours, followed by William Himes moving Procession to Covenant, a setting of the hymn “O love that will not let me go” written for the composer’s wedding in 1998.
On Sunday morning, the visiting band participated in worship at Bloor Central Corps, where the message was given by Major Kevin Metcalf, CSB executive officer. It was then off to march in the 106th annual Toronto Santa Claus Parade. With the Rockford Temple 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 170—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 American visitors for this second annual fall festival and parade weekend. Plans are underway for next year and details will be announced in due course.