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Fanfare band
What is a "fanfare band"?The "Fanfare Band" or "Fanfare Orchestra" is typical for the Low Countries (Belgium and the Netherlands). The history of most bands dates back to the middle of the 19th century. In those days, bands were formed in almost every Belgian or Dutch village. In the beginning, the instrumentation of these bands was not fixed and several types of woodwind and brass instruments were used. Gradually, two types of bands emerged in the Low Countries: "fanfare bands" and "harmony bands". Today, 350 fanfare bands still exist in Flanders alone, along with about an equal number of harmony bands. While a "harmony band" is similar to the "wind bands" that can be found all over the world (woodwind instruments, brass and percussion), fanfare bands are unique to the Low Countries. They are also different from English-style brass band (brass instruments and percusion). A typical Fanfare Band consists of the following instrument groups (the numbers are not officially fixed, but this are the numbers that are currently used by composers):
Several of these instruments were invented or improved in the 19th century by the famous Belgian instruments builder Adolphe Sax. The main melody instrument is the flugel horn. Together with the saxophones, the flugel horns give a fanfare band its typical warm and "dark" sound.
The band plays a wide variety of musical styles: marches, arrangements (classical, brass band movie tunes and other popular music) and of course original fanfare band pieces, most of them by Dutch or Belgian composers and arrangers. But also some famous composers from other countries (like Philip Sparke and Derek Bourgeois) have done compositions for fanfare band in the past. AchievementsOver the years, the Kempenbloei fanfare band has also achieved great successes in numerous contest. An overview of some of the most important achievements of the last 15 years:
In 1991, the fanfare band recorded a Compact Disc "Kempenbloei Achel in Concert". A second CD, "Cry of the Falcon" was recorded in 2007, in cooperation with music publishers De Haske. The performances in Kerkrade were recorded as well, and some of Kempenbloei's performances are featurd on the 2001 and 2005 "WMC Highlights" CDs and DVDs.
Conductor Ivan Meylemans
Since 2000, the Fanfare Band is conducted by Ivan Meylemans, professional conductor and former principal trombonist with the Dutch Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. As a soloist, he has played with, to name just a few, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Royal Band of the Dutch Marines, the Flemish Radio Orchestra and the Yorkshire Building Society Band (during the 2002 European Brass Band Championships in Brussels) and many more. Ivan is laureate of international conducting competitions in the Netherlands, France, the UK (where he conducted the London Symphony Orchestra) and the Ukraine. He is the musical director and conductor of the professional "Collegium Instrumentale Brugensis" orchestra from Bruges. and he has guest-conducted professional orchestras all around the world, from Belgium to Taiwan and New-Zealand. Besides Kempenbloei, Ivan also conducts the Noord-Limburgse Brass Band from Belgium and he been guest-conductor of several high profile amateur wind orchestras, fanfare bands and brass bands in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Band members
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© 2005 Kon. Fanfare Kempenbloei Achel | disclaimer |