Saturday 15th November:
9.30am - 12.30pm: Brass and Percussion Focus Day
12.30 - 1.15pm: Lunch
1.15pm to 2.00pm: Full band rehearsal
2.15pm - 2.45pm: Concourse concert by the Brass and Percussion Focus Group
3.00pm: Rochdale Borough Youth Band Concert with guest soloist, Simone Rebello (percussion)
7.30pm: World of Brass in Concert starring Brighouse and Rastrick and Stavanger bands
Tutors: Richard Marshall, Derick Kane and Joe Cook, Brett Baker, Sheona White and Simone Rebello.
For a place on the Brass and Percussion Focus Day, please contact either:
Alan Hope:
Telephone: 0191 416 1008
Mobile: 0776 5656729
All workshops are free!
Brass in Concert links with US Open
In an exciting transatlantic alliance, the organisers of the Brass in Concert Championship and the sponsor of the U.S. Open Brass Band Championships, Brass Bands International, have announced a strategic partnership that will see the winner of each invited to compete in the other’s contest, the following year. The agreement will take effect this year, beginning with the U.S. Open on 8 November and Brass in Concert on 15 November.
The partnership has been established to help continue the musical growth and programme innovation of bands in both the UK and the United States. Commenting on behalf of Brass in Concert, one of its organisers, Paul Beere, said: “The precursor to this exciting new arrangement was the visit of Brass Band of Central Florida to Brass in Concert, in 2006. With its flair for performance and presentation, it made a terrific impact on the UK audience and was a tremendous ambassador for the U.S. band scene. We are now delighted to build on those links with this formal arrangement, which we hope will provide added interest and incentive to each respective event.
Clark Niermeyer, President of the U.S. Open Championships, commented: “We are very pleased to be able to join with Brass in Concert in this venture and I’m sure that the winner of this year’s U.S. Open will be excited to have the opportunity to compete at The Sage Gateshead next year. Our ‘Open’ has often had English bands competing, but an invitation to the winner of Brass in Concert will not preclude other UK and European bands from registering for the event.”
This announcement follows hard-on-the-heels of a similar partnership between Brass in Concert and the Dutch-based Euro Brass Contest, held each June in Drachten.
Recent performances at the Gateshead-based event by Norway’s Eikanger-Bjørsvik, Austria’s Oberösterreich and America’s Central Florida bands, together with the Norwegian-based Stavanger Band’s forthcoming contention there in November, have established Brass in Concert Championship as by far the leading international entertainment contest of its type.
Brass in Concert Championship takes place at The Sage Gateshead over the weekend of 15 and 16 November, whilst the U.S. Open Championships will take place in the Norris Center for the Arts, St. Charles, Illinois.
Dates for 2008
Saturday 15th November
World of Brass Gala Concert
Sunday 16th November
Brass in Concert Championships
