Music / Classical
Video: Band plays ode to aviation at Brabazon
On the very floor where planes once towered overhead and where aviation history was made a small section of an orchestra struck up an ode to Bristol’s aerospace heritage.
The now-abandoned Brabazon Hanger – once the world’s largest aircraft hanger – at the old Filton Airfield became home to eight members of the Lydbrook Band on Wednesday as they previewed Innovation 216, a tune inspired by Concorde’s last ever flight into Bristol.
Composed by Liz Lane, the piece is due to be premiered in full at St George’s as part of a series of performances under the Art of Flight series celebrating Bristol’s aviation history.
Innovation 216 is named after Filton’s own Concorde 216 which is due to be finally given a roof over its head in a new hanger as part of the £19 million Aerospace Bristol museum built across the old runway from the Brabazon buildings, due to open next summer.
The band performed a snippet under the great arches where the Concorde was built in the 1970s in an eerily empty space big enough to house four jumbo jets.
The Art of Flight series – sponsored by Filton-based aerospace companies Airbus, GKN and Rolls-Royce – runs throughout the autumn. The finale will be on November 27 when Innovation 216 will be played for a live audience for the first time.
Lane, who composed the piece over the course of a year, said: “It’s all about the beauty of flight and it’s tracing some of the history of flights – from early Bristol Boxkite biplanes to the Brabazon and Concorde.”
She added: “Bristol’s got a fantastic history and I’m so grateful to the people in the industry who’d given so much inspiration for the piece. It’s a tribute to the people who have worked here before and the future of aerospace too.”
Read more: Work starts on finally housing Concorde