Fiesta!

About

This orchestral work was especially written for the orchestra in the 2006 Christchurch Primary Schools' Festival.

Following the theme of 'celebrations' this piece was inspired by the festival of Semana Santa, held at Easter time in Spain. I visited Spain many times to see the parades and festivities - the drum and trumpet bands would start playing before dawn and walk through the streets, sometimes very loudly and at other times very solemnly.

Fiesta! fuses the Latin American samba band and the Semana Santa idea together into an exciting, rhythmic work. A samba band starts us off with a 'question and answer' wake-up call; just in case we're not fully awake the brass join in; two solo violins introduce a folk song idea which soon grows into the big carnival atmosphere and, at the very end, the band disappears down the street into the distance.