The Brass Band Conductors' Association (BBCA) has announced the names of the four musicians who will compete in the final of their international Conductor's Competition.
33 video performances were received from across the world with the entrants conducting a wide range of musical ensembles and a varied choice of musical genre.
£500 prize
Four finalists have now selected to compete for the £500 first prize of the organisation's flagship competition.
It will be judged by Paul Holland, MD of the Flowers Band, Brendan Breslin, a former winner of the competition and current BBCA Irish Representative, and Bjarte Engeset, the critically acclaimed Music Director of the Royal Norwegian Navy Orchestra who has worked with both Bjørsvik Brass and Eikanger-Bjørsvik Musikklag.
Alan Duguid BBCA panel member told 4BR: "The field of entrants has been of an exceptionally high standard with videos demonstrating great conducting skills across a wide range of ensembles and musical genres.
The entries were so strong we could not limit the final to just three, so have selected four exceptional candidates to go through to the final round."
Finalists:
The finalists are:
Alexander Webb — an Assistant Conductor for BBC Philharmonic and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and the current Music Director at Poulton-Le-Fylde Band. He previously won the Best Conductor award at the UniBrass Championships.
CJ Wu has conducted the BBC Concert Orchestra as well as the Bucharest Royal Camerata Orchestra, South Bohemian Orchestra, Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra and Brasov Philharmonic. She has also been invited to be part of international masterclasses led by Riccardo Muti, Daniele Gatti and Marin Alsop.
Denis Salvini is the principal conductor of Orchestra Fiati di Valle Camonica. He has achieved success in competitions with many bands and ensembles across Europe and is a founder and board member of DIBA (Italian Band Directors Association).
Gaddiel Dombrowner has held posts including that of Principal guest conductor of the Kunming International Philharmonic (China), and the Music Fest Perugia (Italy) conducting faculty. He has also gained success in other conducting competitions and has been featured in concerts with a number of national orchestras, most recently the Ashdod Symphony Orchestra.
The entries were so strong we could not limit the final to just three, so have selected four exceptional candidates to go through to the final roundBBCA
Final broadcast
The adjudication of the final will be broadcast on Sunday 27th June (2.00pm)
For more information go to: https://www.bbe.org.uk/what-we-do/brass-band-conductors-association