The Intelligencer March 1, 1916 (pages 1, 2)
“Bandmaster H.A. Stares and His Musicians Do Credit to a Splendid Program. It was a capacity house that greeted the initial concert appearance of the 80th Battalion Band, C.E.F., at Griffin’s Opera House last night.
Belleville has been singularly fortunate in the past in the calibre of their concerts. It is doubtful if any event of the kind ever more visibly stirred and gripped its audience than did this musical treat. …
The choice of the 80th Band in their assisting artist was a happy one. Miss Victoria Stares of Hamilton possesses a clear, sweet soprano voice and sings with ease of production, accurate intonation, symmetry of phrasing, and a general style that never departs from refinement. …
To say that Bandmaster Stares has a good band is putting it mildly. The 80th Band has one of the finest collection of musicians in America and although the band played its first public concert last night, we predict a glorious future for them.
The opening number on the programme was the ever-favorite Overture, ‘William Tell,’ and it was played magnificently. … The French and Russian national anthems and Rule Britannia were a fitting close to an evening of music which has rarely been enjoyed in Belleville. …
Lt.-Col. Ketcheson occupied one of the boxes, and there was a smile of satisfaction on his face during the whole evening. He is to be congratulated upon having through his arduous efforts secured a band second to none in Canada and representative of the Dominion. The citizens of Belleville will never forget its debt to Col. Ketcheson for the skilful way in which he has helped the band in all its work and made it in this respect representative of Belleville.
The concert was under the patronage of General Sir Sam Hughes.”
First World War Belleville 