TOUR 2007: Report for 22 May – Zürich

For our final day in Switzerland, the band traveled back to Zürich from Basel. We arrived first in the Hottingen area of the city, where we played a special concert at the Alterszentrum Hottingen (Old People's Center of Hottingen). The center is not a Salvation Army property, but the manager, Matthias Fuhrer, is a member of the Zürich Central corps band. Matthias was one of the main organizers of the NCB's days in Zürich, along with Zürich Central bandmaster Daniel Bates.

The concert in Hottingen was unusual, both in the setting and the audience. The band was situated on a grassy area on top of the roof of part of the center, with the audience of residents somewhat off to the left. In addition to the elderly residents of the center, a group of children was also present. At first, we were a bit concerned about the building next door, which was somewhat noisily being demolished. However, it had been arranged that the work crew there would stop at 1100, and so they did. A greater concern turned out to be the stability of the chairs on the soft surface, as both Mike Harris and Jamie Hood experienced a “sinking feeling” when their chairs sank into the ground.

Feature pieces during the 45-minute concert included the solo items The Old Rustic Bridge (Erik Leidzén), played by principal horn Randi Bulla, and Swiss Melodies (Eric Ball), played on Eb bass by Mike Harris.

Following the concert, we retired to the dining area of the center for an excellent lunch prepared by the kitchen staff, then set off for the nearest tram stop. We took the tram down to the area near the lake, where we separated into two groups for one-hour guided walking tours of the historic sections of Zürich. Our fearless Divisional Commander, Lt.-Colonel William Crabson, rode the tram with us and remained at the lakeside stop where he was supposed to meet up with his wife and some others.

The walking tours ended at a fountain near the Paradeplatz, and the groups were released for some free time, with the fountain designated as the rendezvous point to return to the old people's center on the tram. When we all arrived back at the meeting place, we discovered that Colonel Crabson had never made the connection with the others he was supposed to meet, and that no one was quite sure where he was. After waiting for some time, we got on the tram and headed back to the center, to discover that he had arrived back there earlier in the afternoon on his own.

The band members quickly gathered up their possessions that had been left at the old people's center and boarded the coach for the short ride to the Reformed Church in Wallisellen, another section of Zürich. We set up and did a short sound check, then walked a block down the hill to a local restaurant where we were treated to a fine dinner (which we later discovered was paid for personally by members of the Zürich Central Band). Noting that the church was an excellent location for photographs, we took some group photos of the band before beginning the evening festival.

The festival began with Washington Salute 125 (Stephen Bulla), followed by the Broadway-style medley God With Us (Kirkland/Fettke, arr. Kevin Norbury). Ian Anderson offered the cornet solo Share My Yoke (Joy Webb, arr. Ivor Bosanko) just before Laura Boutchyard gave a personal testimony. Ian returned, teaming up with Noel Morris for the cornet duet Quicksilver (Peter Graham) and the first half of the program concluded with The Blessing (William Himes).

Following an intermission, the festival continued with Winchester Revival (Kenneth Downie) and Mike Harris playing Swiss Melodies, which garnered a standing ovation from the bass players present. Our guest vocal soloist for the tour, Wendy Hood, sang Shine On Us, accompanied by Stephen Bulla (piano), Randi Bulla (horn), Chris Dennard (flügel) and Keith Morris (percussion). Wendy's second item was Nothing But Thy Blood, accompanied by Art Henry (piano) and Jamie Hood (trumpet).

The concert concluded with the major work for the evening, Dudley Bright's tone poem Confrontations (based on the classic song “I'm In His Hands”), followed by a Scripture lesson by executive officer Major James Allison and Bandmaster Anderson's selection Our God Reigns. Sustained rhythmic applause led to two encores, On the King's Highway (Erik Leidzén) and America the Beautiful (Carmen Dragon, arr. Bob Clemons).