| In 1988 some pioneers thought it was
about time for the City of Västerås to get a wind band of its own. So they
got a number of musicians together, both amateurs and professionals and in
January 1989 it was time for the "world première", as the first concert was
called in the press. The band works on an ideal basis and all members take
part on equal terms. The major part of the band are amateurs, but music
teachers and professional musicians are also members.
Over the years the popular concerts in spring and autumn as well as the
Saturday city parades have attracted the greatest interest. Furthermore a lot
of commissioned concerts have been performed. The orchestra has also made some
concert trips abroad; Switzerland, Norway, England, Austria, Hungary and Italy
have all been visited. In Austria, on behalf of the Association of Swedish
Amateur Orchestras, the band had the privilege of representing Sweden and
Northern Europe at a big music festival for wind bands. The band also
represented Sweden at the big Nordic-Baltic Choir Festival on the island of
Gotland 1997 and had the honour of providing the final concerts of the
season at Strömsholm Castle and at Dalhalla, the well-known open-air stage by
Rättvik in the county of Dalarna.
In 1998 the band reached its finest success so far - Swedish wind band
champions, an effort we so far have repeated twice, in 2001 and 2004, on
every occassion in stronger competition than before.
The first CD was released in 1992. So it was time for the second CD,
released in 1998. This CD reflects the varied repertoire of the orchestra and
we hope it will give the listener a great musical experience. |
