History of The AD Concert Band
The Band Forms
The AD Concert Band was formed as a youth band by the late Arthur Doyle, following his retirement as Principal Tuba with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO). This makes us one of the oldest civilian Concert Bands in the West Midlands.
New Music
With the assistance of the Arts Council of Great Britain, we commissioned Dr. Gordon Jacob to compose a work especially for us, Symphony AD 78. The writing of the piece also coincided with the 78th Birthday of Arthur Doyle and the title was chosen as a tribute from Dr. Jacob to his good friend. The piece was first performed by the Band in Birmingham under the baton of Arthur Doyle and in the presence of the composer.
Vie-win-a
The Arthur Doyle Concert Band achieves 2nd place in the Youth Music Festival competition in Vienna.
Touring
The band starts its first foreign tour in Southern Germany, playing in public venues around the Black Forest area.
Trevor Arrives
The band's current musical director, Dr Trevor Farren, was appointed following the sad passing of our founder Arthur. Trevor is well known in the midlands as a conductor and a performer, specialising in the Euphonium.
Win-d Band
In 1999, The AD Band achieved a Gold award at the West Midlands regional heats of the National Concert Band Festival.
The AD Band achieved a Silver award at the West Midlands regional heats of the 2001 National Concert Band Festival, going on to achieve a Bronze Award at the Festival itself in Manchester in that year.
Corp Co-op
The Band has worked with the Band of the Royal Corps of Signals, with the two Bands performing together in joint concerts in 2003, 2004 and 2005.
Silver Win
The AD Band achieves a Silver award at the National Concert Band Festival.
Bringing People Together
AD forms a relationship with the Band of the Parachute Regiment with a joint concert in November 2008 for an evening of music relating to celebrations.
A second joint concert took place in October 2009 and was performed to a packed hall at Solihull School. This concert was preceded by two days of workshops in local schools, where the Band of the Parachute Regiment, along with some members from the AD Concert band, joined with pupils to share in the joy of wind band music.
This was a great opportunity for the pupils to learn from more experienced musicians. The AD Band has found it very beneficial to work with professional musicians from the army and has learnt a lot, as well as thoroughly enjoying the challenge.
"In Celebration" CD
2008 was an exciting year for the Band, as we recorded our first CD. This was a completely new experience for most members of the Band and we learnt a lot from doing it. The CD, "In Celebration", is available for purchase and on Spotify.
Celebrating Mrs. AD
Another major event in the life of the Band in 2008 was the 100th Birthday of the late Vi Doyle (widow of our founder). We performed a special Centenary Celebration Concert for her in Amphhtill, Bedfordshire, which was well attended by members of her family and many past members of the Band. Sadly, Mrs. Doyle passed away in the following year.
Out and About
The Band has performed several concerts in St. James's Park London during July. We also staged a concert in celebration of the Queen's Golden Jubilee in Solihull.
AD Band performs at the Ilmington Summer Fete on the August Bank Holiday, Marston Green Village Hall, Birmingham Botanical Gardens, West Park Wolverhampton and a Christmas concert for the Coleshill Town Twining Association.
Gold Celebrations
The band performed in a number of events celebrating the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics.
In February, we performed at the Guy Nelson Hall in Warwick for a dinner dance in support of military charities, hosted by BBC TV presenter Mary Rhodes.
In March we teamed up with the Band of Mercian Regiment at Wolverhampton for a Repertoire Day organised by a music retailer. We played through over 50 of the latest scores for concert band and purchased some of those that the band liked best.
Our Spring Concert in April featured a range of classical pieces looking forward to the Jubilee and the Olympics.
In May we performed alongside pupils from Bromsgrove School North helping to raise funds for music education within the School.
We performed two open air Jubilee Celebration concerts in June one in Hampton in Arden and one in Ilmington. The programme included Jubilee Overture (Philip Sparke) and concluded with the 1812 Overture with fireworks. Later that month the band provided music to accompany the Olympic Torch as it passed through Wolverhampton.
In July and August we performed band stand concerts at Wolverhampton, Himley Hall and The Botanical Gardens in Birmingham.
Our “Last Night of the Proms Concert” took place at the Bushell Hall in Solihull in September where we were joined by the ladies choral group Barbarama and raised funds for the Charity Troop Aid.
In October we performed for a Fashion Show inside John Lewis’s store in Solihull.
Towards the end of the year we performed Christmas Concerts at Earleswood Village Hall, Digbeth in the Fields Church, Coleshill Town Hall and Brindley Place Birmingham.
Ruby Anniversary!
To mark our 40th anniversary, we put together a special program of events to mark this special occasion, culminating in a concert at Bushell Hall in Solihull with two very special features; a performance of Vaughan Williams' Tuba Concert featuring Graham Sibley, Principle Tuba for the CBSO, and the world premiere of 'Festival Prelude AD Excel', a piece composed especially for us by the notable modern band composer Philip Sparke.
Present Day
AD Concert Band: a regular group of about 60 musicians coming from a wide range of backgrounds, enjoying playing together to bring music to local communities and supporting worthy causes.