Saturday 30 June 2019

Saturday 30th of June marked the City of Greater Dandenong Band’s 7th consecutive cabaret held at Springvale Town Hall. As we head towards the next millennium, so does our ever increasing fan base, with this year being our highest audience participation yet of over 350 ..the word around town and beyond of Dandenong Band’s themed cabarets is catching on. This year’s Heroes vs Villains Cabaret was no exception and again left the crowd wanting more.

The members of the band for one night only were allowed to alter their personalities and perhaps show a brief glimpse of their true selves (heroic or villainous... or perhaps a bit of both). A spread of courageous heroes and nefarious villains emerged from behind the shadows of their instruments showcasing a spectacle for anticipated audience members. Guests were encouraged to arrive in line with the theme which many did adding to the colour and fervour of the night. Some were rewarded for their efforts taking away prizes for their costume creations while others made use of the photo booth and were able to take away plenty of memories from this year’s Heroes vs Villains Cabaret.

Apart from the fantastic music, there was plenty on offer at this year’s cabaret including enormous raffle prizes, Cadbury chocolate selections, a silent auction memorabilia showcase and much, much more.

Not only are our talented members brass musicians, some are great composers, arrangers and singers as well and their talents were showcased throughout the night in our exclusive all-in-house event.

Matt (The Joker) Hillman, master compère for the evening segued the songs of the night with his wise-cracking jokes and sensationalised humour. Matt also happens to be a talented vocalist and was featured aplenty. Lighting him up and making him sound great along with all the other vocalists/band members for the evening was his wife, Catherine, manning the sound and lighting desk for the entirety of the show.

Annie Pirotta is a young and upcoming director/composer within the band who usually plays trombone but was given the opportunity during the night to display her arranging skills and had great opportunity to work with the band in the lead up to the cabaret.
The mischievous Maddi Mathers, daughter of Musical Director, Michael Mathers, swept the audience into submission, adopting a very smooth Cruella de Vil act to back up her earlier stellar performance of I Need a Hero.

She was accompanied by the ever so charming Cassi de Lacy-Vawdon who was featured once again singing two numbers along with Emily Wiltshire’s amazing rendition of Vanessa Amorosi’s “Heroes live forever” performance.

During the evening there was a solemn performance to reflect on the heroes in our everyday lives. With visual accompaniament of photos of parents of band members, the haunting “Thank you for being my Dad”, was led on flugel by Michael Mathers - A lasting dedication to his father, Ian Mathers who was present to witness the performance. Michael departs the band at the end of this year to head on an exciting adventure interstate with his family and this performance will long be remembered after he leaves.

Springvale Brass, newly founded youth development band opened up the second half of the night playing 5 pieces that matched the theme including Batman, Wallace and Grommit, and Ghostbusters!

The night concluded with all of the singers coming together in a heroic and epic finale of “Here’s to the Heroes.”

Our cabaret this year could be deemed as a huge success with the band raising well over $5000 which will see to the purchase of new instruments, sheet music and equipment for our quickly expanding organisation.

Like any of our past cabarets, this year was no exception and couldn’t have been made possible without the hardworking individuals within the City of Greater Dandenong Band who not just practice the music our audience gets to hear but help out with logistics, organisation and decoration of what our fantastic audience gets to experience on the night.

Next year’s Cabaret is Space themed and planning is already underway with some tickets already booked!! The event will coincide with the 50 year anniversary of the moon landing and will be held on Saturday 20th July. It’s already starting to look like a sell out event so book early to avoid disappointment!
 

Thank you Chantelle Riordan of Snare Photography for these spectacular photographs from the evening.