Busy weekend

October 26 & 27 was very busy for me. On Saturday I was booked by the Manger Festival for school bands to do "musical stunts" in between the bands to try and keep the audience inside the hall. I and the excellent percussionist Hogne Holmås did some stunts together and some by ourselves. It was enjoyable and it certainly worked in the sense that more people stayed in the hall to listen to the bands. The day ended with a gala concert where I performed "Vallflickans Dans" by Hugo Alfvén, arr. Frode Rydland together with the Manger Musikklag and their guest conductor Kim Lofthouse. It was nice to play with the current Norwegian Champions and a special pleasure to play with Kim again, my old teacher from the Grieg Acadamy.

On Sunday I was busy rehearsing a brass band during the day and in the evening I performed as a guest soloist with Strusshamn Musikkforening in their 90 years jubilee concert. The wind band is conducted by Eikanger-Bjørsvik’s own Reid Gilje and they accompanied well in "Vallflickans Dans" (yet an arrangement by mr. Rydland!) and Ray Farr’s arrangement of Nicholas Brodszky’s "Be my Love".