BTM's French Fancy

31-Mar-2009
At a recent concert in Stroud, the BTM Band featured the unusual solo voice of the French horn.

After just missing out on qualifying for the National Finals in London, the BTM Band recently traveled to Stroud to perform at the Stroud Brass Band Festival.

New music

In keeping with the bands ongoing commitment to new music their program featured Tom Davoren’s 'Phoenix Rising' and 'I Bob Un' based on the Welsh hymn tune 'Rachie'.

The first half also featured Nick Smith as guest soloist playing the rarely performed 'Concerto for French Horn and Brass Band', by Edward Gregson.

'The band has worked incredibly hard since the beginning of the year and that was evident in the performance at Stroud'

~ Jeff Hutcherson

Twin Towers

Nick has worked as a freelance horn player with most of the UK’s professional orchestras and has toured extensively in Europe, Asia and the Americas. He was also a founder member of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, housed in Kuala Lumpur’s spectacular Twin Towers.

Hard work

Band manager Jeff Hutcherson told 4BR: "The band has worked incredibly hard since the beginning of the year and that was evident in the performance at Stroud. I would also like to take the opportunity to thank Jason Katsikaris for his hard work and effort in taking us to the Welsh Regional, even if it wasn’t meant to be this year."