Britain and Beyond

Sunday 18th August 2024 at 2pm

St Paschal’s Catholic Church
30 Warraba Ave, Wavell Heights 
$35 (including light supper)
Bookings:- https://www.olaparishchermside.org.au/events or Phone 3359 0239. Tickets also sold at the door if not previously sold out.

Guest Artist at St Paschal's Church will be Our Lady of the Angels Choir conducted by Debra Todhunter.

Saturday 24th August 2024 at 2pm

Church of Christ Kenmore Community Centre
41, Brookfield Rd. Kenmore
Adults $30, Concessions $26, Students $12, Children < 5 yrs free.
Bookings:- Try Bookings: www.trybooking.com/CTKRJ or ring Maree 3378 2384. Tickets also sold at the door if not sold out previously.
Free parking and program - café open for lunch/tea/coffee/cake

The Brisbane City Pops Orchestra is thrilled to be presenting our third concert for 2024, entitled Britain and Beyond. It will feature some of the best music to come from Britain, including marches, musicals, classics, folk songs and pop songs, as well as some gems from  further afield!

The orchestra will present one of Eric Coates best-known pieces as we perform the rousing Knightsbridge March. We will also take you down memory lane as we play the light-hearted March from A Little Suite by Trevor Duncan, made popular as the theme music for the television show Dr. Finlay’s Casebook. And who can forget the beautiful melodies from the wonderful musical Camelot, by Alan J. Lerner, set in a mystical castle in England?

Our amazing string sections will be on show as they perform Percy Grainger’s very busy Molly on the Shore, based on an Irish reel. It will have your toes tapping!

We will also visit Bonnie Scotland, as we present Scottish Patrol, one of Ron Hanmer’s masterful arrangements, based on some well-known Scottish songs. You will be able to envisage the Patrol coming closer, passing by, and then disappearing off into the distance…

What would a trip to Britain be if we didn’t celebrate the most famous of pop groups, The Beatles, with a medley of some of their best hits? What a blast from the past!

We will also be making a short trip to Germany as we showcase another of Ron’s arrangements, done especially for our orchestra and featuring some of Offenbach’s most loved music, concluding with the exciting and highly-spirited Can Can! Oo-la-la!!

The BCPO is very excited to be welcoming a new guest artist, the wonderful Ashleigh Denning, who we are sure will become an audience favourite! Ashleigh is a dynamic and captivating performer, with more than 20 years experience in live performance and graduated as a recipient of the Award for Excellence for her Bachelor of Musical Theatre (2016) at the Qld Conservatorium of Music, where she continued on to complete a Master of Music Studies: Voice Pedagogy in 2021. 

Ashleigh has been very involved in the Brisbane Musical Theatre scene for a number of years, creating some new and exciting works. She has also worked with the Qld Symphony Orchestra in some Symphonic Santa performances and this year will be hosting the QSO’s Music on Sundays Concerts. Her many and varied appearances include the Lord Mayor’s Christmas Carols, Opera in the Gardens, alongside the 7 Sopranos, as well as the Underground Opera Company’s West End to Broadway Seasons, to name but a few!

The orchestra is delighted to accompany Ashleigh as she performs the very dramatic Habanera from Carmen and the very tranquil and romantic On Wings of Song by Mendelssohn. You will also be treated to a medley of much-loved songs from My Fair Lady as well as the very beautiful and soulful The Man I Love by George and Ira Gershwin.

So please join the Brisbane City Pops Orchestra as we celebrate some fantastic music and wonderful singing from Britain and Beyond - it will be a show full of tunes that you know and love, with something for everyone!!

Neill Flottmann (Conductor)

After studies in flute and piano at the University of Sydney, Neil Flottmann went on to a varied career as a flautist, music educator and conductor. A former member of several major Australian orchestras, including the QLD Symphony Orchestra, he has also worked as Chorus Master for the Lyric Opera of Queensland, The Australian Opera and The Canadian Opera Company. He has been at various times a member of the professional staff at the NSW State Conservatorium of Music, the QLD Conservatorium of Music and QUT lecturing in flute, musicianship, opera studies and conducting. 

In 1984 Neil was awarded the prestigious Willem van Otterloo Memorial Conducting Scholarship, leading to studies in Sydney and London with Myer Fredman and Sir Charles Mackerras. Since then he has appeared as guest conductor with the Sydney, Queensland, Melbourne and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras, the ABC Sinfonia, the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra and the Australian Ballet. Neil has conducted thirteen seasons for the Queensland Ballet including the widely acclaimed Australian premiere of Peter Maxwell- Davies; Salome in 1986 and Francois Klaus’s 1998 production of Peer Gynt. In 2010 he was a member of the creative team for the Brisbane performance of Havergal Brian’s “Gothic Symphony”. He is currently Director of Curriculum at West Moreton Anglican College.

Ashleigh Denning (Guest artist)

Ashleigh Denning is a dynamic and captivating performer, boasting more than 20 years experience in live performance. She graduated as a recipient of the Award for Excellence for her Bachelor of Musical Theatre (2016) at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University; where she continued on to complete a Master of Music Studies: Vocal Pedagogy (2021). Her involvement in the Brisbane Musical Theatre scene has afforded her the opportunity to create new and exciting Australian works; including A Very Theatre Company’s Genesis (Metro Arts, 2019) and the sell-out premier of Don’t Call Me Ishmael: The Musical (2018). In the same year, Ashleigh’s engagement with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra began, in their 2018 production of The Magic Watering Can. Since then, she has returned annually as the effervescent “Izzy the Elf” in Symphonic Santa performances (2019, 2021, 2022) and (with only slightly less ‘Izzy’ energy) brought to life the vocal arrangements of Paul Rissman’s orchestral adaptation of Leon and the Space Between (2023, 2024) and delighted audiences in the prestigious Musical Theatre Gala (2023). This year, she steps into the sought-after role of hosting the QSO’s Music on Sundays performances, as well as numerous regional tours.

Ashleigh is a regular guest entertainer on P&O Cruises with her band, CopperTop — whose funk & jazz- inspired renditions of popular songs, combined with Ashleigh’s unrivalled passion for story-telling, make them crowd favourites both at sea and on land. Although, not limited by genre, the young diva has entertained crowds at the Lord Mayor’s Christmas Carols (2019, 2020), Bleach Festival (2020), Opera in the Gardens (2019, 2020) and Outback Queensland Masters (2019, 2020), alongside the fabulous ladies of the 7 Sopranos and entertained countless audiences during her many years as resident Soprano for the Underground Opera Company’s West End to Broadway Seasons. She is sought after event singer for weddings, private functions and gala events in Queensland and interstate — performing regularly for The IndOz Festival, The Lord Mayor’s Multicultural Awards & Business Awards, Royal Queensland Arts Society, QCWA and the Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show, to name a few.

As a teacher, Ashleigh utilises her extensive training in voice to help others find theirs. She has travelled across Australia with Theatre in Education companies such as Gibber Australia and Perform! Education; spent countless hours with finger puppets as an early childcare music teacher; and continues to work alongside budding performers as a vocal teacher in schools and privately.