Welcome to the home of the Orillia Silver Band. We are a community band in the traditional British Brass Band style who perform diverse concerts across the region ranging from the Orillia Jazz Festival to fundraising events to the Mariposa Folk Festival.
The Orillia Silver Band presents:
Our annual Christmas Concert!
Sleigh Bells and Brass
Neil Barlow, Music Director
Celebrate the Holiday Season with the Orillia Silver Band!
Sleighbells and Brass
Christmas Concert
The Orillia Silver Band celebrates the holiday season with its traditional Sleighbells and Brass Christmas Concert. The concert takes place on Sunday, December 1, 2024, 2:00 pm at the Stockey Center in Parry Sound and Sunday, December 15, 2024, 2:00 pm at the Orillia Opera House. Concert tickets are available from the theatre websites or by clicking the links above.
The Orillia Silver Band has enjoyed a long-standing tradition of providing concerts of holiday music in Orillia. “We have a wonderful selection of Christmas season favourites to offer this year!” says Neil Barlow, the band’s Music Director and Conductor.
Among the items to be performed during the concert are a stirring rendition of Joy to the World arranged by William Himes, Norman Bearcroft’s happy Fantasia on the Sussex Carol, Philip Rayment’s exciting The City of David, and the sparkling work A Great and Mighty Wonder by Kenneth Downie.
The band’s own Sarah Hemeon will be featured as Soprano Cornet soloist on Stephen Bulla’s arrangement of O Holy Night. Also included is a setting of a traditional French carol called Noel Nouvelet by Canadian Kevin Norbury. The concert will feature a wonderful arrangement of the traditional The Holly and the Ivy, as well as some engaging music for the Hannukah season.
And it wouldn’t be a Silver Band Christmas concert without an audience-request sing-a-long. So come prepared to exercise your vocal skills with your favourite Christmas carols.
Please don’t miss this wonderful concert of holiday festivity!
The OSB has begun using Zeffy for purchasing tickets at the St. Paul's Centre and as a donation platform that is easy for our patrons to use. Our Christmas concerts are being held at the Stockey Centre and the Orillia Opera House so for these events ticket purchase is done through their box office. (See the links above.) Should you wish to donate to the band you can do so through Zeffy by clicking on our donate button below. Donations over $20 are eligible for a tax receipt as we are a charitable organization. Please note the information below about using Zeffy:
Zeffy is a Canadian-based company that supports non-profit charitable organizations like the OSB by providing tools like a donation portal and ticketing for events. They do not charge us for the service. They do, however, ask for a donation to Zeffy when you purchase a ticket or make a donation, much like a tip at a restaurant. There is a suggested amount that is a percentage automatically put in the box beside "Support the 100% free Canadian platform we use!" when you are asked to pay for the tickets. You do not have to select that amount. You are able to select a different percentage (like a restaurant does) or you can enter any amount yourself by selecting "Other". Please consider supporting Zeffy by including a "tip" for them based on what you feel is appropriate. They provide a valuable service and are the only company that does indeed give all of your ticket price to the band. Other platforms that provide ticketing charge the band a fee and a ticket fee to the customer. (You can also make a donation to the Orillia Silver Band as part of purchasing a ticket should you so desire.) We hope to see you at our next concert and thanks for supporting the Orillia Silver Band!
Featured Events
Sleighbells and Brass, Orillia
Join the Orillia Silver Band for our annual Christmas Concert, Sleighbells and Brass. There will be lots of great music of the season and our annual Juke Box sing-along so bring your Christmas spirit to the Orillia Opera House on December 15th at 2:00 pm. Tickets will be available soon!
Orillia, ON L3V 3A6
Check out our Events page for details on all of our upcoming performances.
OSB Recordings
The OSB has recorded several CDs and videos for your enjoyment. You can hear our commissioned works that include Mariposa Sketches, A Life Well-Lived and the Railroad Trilogy on our 3 CDs (Mariposa Sketches, Christmas Time is Here, and Couchiching Classics). You can also follow us on our YouTube Channel (and Facebook too!!) where you can see A Life Well-Lived by Ty Watson and numerous videos recorded "at home" during the pandemic. If you are interested in purchasing a copy of a CD, just send us a note an we will give you the details.
Click here to listen to some samples.
What people are saying about us....
Entertainment writer John Swartz was at our May 28th "Serenade in Brass" concert in Orillia and said in SUNonline/Orillia (10 June 2023):
"This time my seat was not in the usual part of Gord’s Room I like to be, but in the third row. I’d sit up front all the time if I could. The change in perspective allowed me to zero in on sections of the ensemble and I have to say, even though I’ve often said the group plays extremely well, my angle of listening and view put the lower brass and middle voices in the line of fire and holy cow are they ever good. I think the best example of their exceptional playing was in a transcription for band of Beethoven’s Adagio from Sonata No. 8 (Pathetique). Getting the right tone from a section and playing with the sensitivity demanded of the work is not easy to do. It only takes one player to mess it up. The whole program was good. Each tune had elements most of the audience would be familiar with. I especially liked they put Robert Redhead’s arrangement of Gord’s Canadian Railroad Trilogy in the mix. I understand it was added for obvious reasons, which meant they didn’t have a ton of time to rehearse it. Robert was in the audience too. The band has a concert in Huntsville at the Algonquin Theatre July 15 and 16. They’ll be performing with Kyung-A Lee who has been the accompanist for the Cellar Singers. She’ll be playing Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the band’s arrangement by Neil Barlow. You can get tickets for that online. Otherwise we’ll have to wait until the fall to hear the band again."
Stay Updated
We send out an E-newsletter about 3 times a year to keep you up to date on OSB happenings and upcoming concerts. We also send out concert reminders for each of our concerts. Don't miss and OSB event. Join our newsletter list today!