Sydney Salvation Brass is preparing for a two-day visit to the Colour City next weekend. The tour will include three performances and a brass instrument workshop across the 29th and 30th of August.

Orange Corps Officer, Major Colin Young, told Orange City Life the local Army invites a couple of bands to visit every year.

“It allows us to stay in contact with what’s going on in the wider Salvation Army world”, he said.

“It also offers the opportunity for the visiting band to prepare for other upcoming concerts”.

The visit of Sydney Salvation Brass will include a workshop on Saturday, which Major Young said was open to any brass musician, along with a concert at the Corps hall that evening. The band will play at the Corps for their 10am worship service on Sunday, concluding the tour with an open-air concert in Cook Park.

Brass band music holds an important role in the Salvation Army, with Major Young telling Orange City Life its association with the church can be traced back to its founding in 19th-century England.

“From the very beginning, the Salvation Army has used brass music because very likely it was the popular music back in the 1880s and they’ve carried on since”.

When asked why the Orange community supports these events, Major Young said Orange has a strong music culture and Army music adds to the flavour.

“Salvation Army Music is firstly spiritual, and secondly, there's just a lot of people who enjoy listening to brass bands play”.

The workshop is on Saturday the 29th of August, beginning at 3pm at the Salvation Army Corps at 131 Kite Street, followed by the concert commencing at 6:30. The Cook Park performance begins at 2pm on Sunday the 30th of August.