Andrew followed his father’s career and he started his musical studies at the age of 12 under the supervision of Capt. Buttigieg who was the band director of Sliema Band. Andrew did very well in his studies and at such a young age, he had already played the clarinet with a number of local bands. He continued his theoretical studies under the supervision of Mro. Carmelo Pace and the practical studies under the supervision of Mro. Angelo Pullicino who, at the time, was the director of St.Julian’s band. The first band which Mro. Coleiro directed was Sliema band which performed the Hymn of the Sacred Heart of our Lady. This occurred due to the absence of Capt. Buttigieg on the day of the performance. |
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In 1967 Andrew married Joanne nee’ Bonnici from Sliema and they had three children Omar, Sonia and Claudine. At the time, Andrew’s work also contained that musical touch because he served in the R.M.A. band and the band director at that time Mro. Twanny Chircop urged Andrew to begin to play the Clarino Basso, an instrument which was only played by a few people on the island.
In 1970, Mro. Andrew Coleiro became the assistant director of St.Andrew band of Hal Luqa, the place of birth of his father Francis. He liked Maltese band marches a lot and at this time he started composing his marches. The first march which he composed was called “Hole in the Wall” and was first played by La Vittoria Band, one of the two bands to be found in Mellieha. From here onwards he continued to compose more and more band marches. |
His career with the Duke of Connaught’s Own Band of B’Kara started in 1975 when he was appointed the assistant director of the band and also gave musical lessons to the trainees of the same band. The first march which he composed for the Duke’s was Augusta. In 1977 he was given the responsabilities of being the Director of the same band, a post which has not changed until nowadays. This made the Duke’s band to have a special place in Andrew’s heart because it was the first band of which Mro. Coleiro became the band director. But as years went by, more bands appointed Mro.Coleiro as their director. Such bands were : Stella Maris, Sliema, St.Geatan of Hamrun, St.Joseph of Hal Ghaxaq and “Kriostu Re” of Rahal Gdid. By the time he was also made the assistant director of St.Catherine’s band of Zurrieq and the King’s Own band of Valletta. His band marches were becoming more and more popular and he recorded some of his marches on a longplay called “Gejja l-Banda”. Then in the 90’s he recorded another two cassettes with more of his popular marches. |
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It is also important to note that Mro.Coleiro was also in charge for some time of the orchestra of the theatre De Porres in Sliema, a theatre which in the 70’s and 80’s was popular for plays and operettas. He also managed to set up the St. Dominic band in Sliema, a band which nowadays no longer exists
In 1993 Mro. Coleiro became the band director of Prekursur band of Xewkija in Gozo, a post in which he served for 5 years. Now he is only the director of our band i.e. the Duke of Connaught’s Own Band. Now 30 years have passed in which Mro. Coleiro experienced a lot of success by conducting concertos and performances and by composing a lot more band marches which became so popular thar nearly all the band clubs in Malta and Gozo have some of his marches in their archives. Some of his marches were even played in Australia and Canada. He also directed the Duke’s band in Sorrento in Italy and tha Prekursur band in Tunisia.
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During these 30 years Mro. Coleiro enriched the archives of the Duke of Connaught’s Own Band with a lot of popular band marches like Karmar, Magnus, Bardija, Nikita and the recent and vastly polular march “Millenju”. In the year 2000, he composed the hymn “50 Sena Bazilika” to commemorate the golden anniversary when St.Helen’s parish church of B’Kara was given the title of Basilica.
Mro. Andrew Coleiro must certainly be known as a “maestro” who contributed a lot to the local band clubs, to the Maltese culture and to our island Malta itself. Since now Mro. Andrew Coleiro kept his position which makes him the most Band Director and still acting with our Band. |
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