Hanover Band mark their 40th anniversary at Arundel Festival

The Hanover Band will once again be at the centre of the Arundel Festival – but in very different circumstances and in a very different way as they celebrate a landmark anniversary.
Caroline BrownCaroline Brown
Caroline Brown

This is their 40th birthday, and their late founder Caroline Brown (1953-2018) had planned to mark their own anniversary with a major series of concerts also celebrating Beethoven’s big anniversary – his 250th birthday in December this year.

Caroline, who died from cancer two years ago, had been working on the concert series from her hospital bed.

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However, the Hanover Band – with her husband Stephen Neiman as CEO – managed just the first of the series in London in March before lockdown struck.

This year’s Arundel Festival of the Arts sees them return to live performance with a series of four concerts. They won’t be open to the public; instead they will be livestreamed to an audience of thousands.

They are offering a string quartet series on August 22 at 6.30 pm; August 23 at 6.30pm; and August 24 at 6.30pm at Arundel Town Hall.

They then return to the venue on August 30 at 12.30pm with a Beethoven septet. Tickets are available from https://thehanoverband.com/concert/.

It has all been bitter-sweet, Stephen says.

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“Caroline had planned quite a year for the 40th year, nine concerts throughout London livery halls because they represent the venues that Beethoven would have had in mind.

“Beethoven wouldn’t have entertained in his wildest dreams the Barbican, the O2 or Wembley Arena. These are the venues he would have been thinking of.

“The final concert was to have been in December for his actual birthday. But we had just the first one in March and then everything was cancelled.

“It was difficult for everyone, but it was particularly difficult for self-employed musicians. They were not eligible for furlough because they were self-employed, and I have to say that the arts was not the government’s priority... though the money is starting to eke through now.

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“Our musicians have had to do different things, other creative things, even different careers, maybe as carers or helping the NHS.

“But it has been difficult for everyone and you have just got to do what you can.

“We, as an organisation, have been posting clips of past recordings every day at ten, and we have just over 1,800 people tuning in every day, which has been great.”

Arundel is the return to live performance – though without an audience: “Boris put paid to that a couple of weeks ago. If they do relax the regulations even now, it is just too late to bring in an audience.

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“It is frustrating, but it is also very understandable. You have got to be aware of other people and of all the health implications. If we don’t get this virus under control now, then we are going to be living with it for years and years and years to come.”

And on the plus side, the concerts, even without an audience, still represent employment for the musicians concerned – employment for the first time in months.

“The main point is to provide work for self-employed musicians who would otherwise be destitute, and the longer this goes on, the more problems there are going to be.”

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