The Innisfil IdeaLab and library was operating with regular Saturday morning activities, which included toddlers playing with their parents, youngsters at the computer stations and then the big brass began..
The second annual Christmas Tubafest kicked off with the warm deep brass tones delivering a medley of tunes beginning with O Canada and sliding into seasonal favourites like Deck the Halls, Frosty the Snowman, and Jingle Bells.
As part of the performance, 14 tunes on the song list were delivered mainly by students from Nantyr Shores.
The event was a fundraising concert for the Triton music program, bookending the outdoor Music at the Market concert in October.
Modelled after the Tuba Festival that started in 1990 at Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square, Tracy Lai Cowan and her husband Grant Cowan brought the event to life last year.
This year’s version was open to all low brass players: tuba, euphonium, baritone and trombone.
Originally scheduled as an outdoor event, it moved into the library as Lai Cowan said the instruments don’t perform optimally in the frigid temperatures that have now arrived. They had 11 musicians operating the brass, keeping the regular attendees and friends and family of the musicians entranced with the tunes. Cowan said the music was arranged to bring out the fullest range of tones from the instruments.
One of the student players, Lauren Cowan, said she was very much looking forward to the concert as even though she played in it last year, this was a much larger group.
“We’ve been planning this since late October, but we’ve never played together, many of us are at Nantyr but this team hasn’t had a practice,” Lauren said.
Despite their lack of rehearsals, conductor Danny Vas, a music teacher from Nantyr had them working as a well oiled machine.
