2025 promises plenty of musical highlights, but these are five to think about making a real effort to attend if you can in January and February.
The Lighter Side of Brass
Duke’s Hall, Royal Academy of Music Brass
London
Director: Mike Lovatt
Friday 17th January (1.00pm)
Tickets: Free
Mike Lovatt, the Derek Watkins Professor of Trumpet returns to the Royal Academy of Music to bring a lively programme of jazz and swing-inspired brass music, featuring both transcriptions and original pieces from the renowned Superbrass ‘Brass Taps’ album.
RNCM International Brass Band Festival
Royal Northern College of Music
Manchester
Friday 24th – Sunday 26th January
Tickets: https://www.rncm.ac.uk/festivals/rncm-international-brass-band-festival/
The annual showcase for what brass banding has to offer to the wider musical world has had a subtle shift of identity emphasis since Dr David Thornton took over the helm last year.
Following Treize Etoiles stunning appearance 12 months ago, this year the international visitors are Athena Brass, the all female from the USA packed full of outstanding musical talent, and with an programme of works written by women composers.
There is a huge arc of music on show – linked by a celebratory 80th birthday thread of music by Edward Gregson (including his new Tenor Horn Concerto), but also with world premieres of works by Lucy Pankhurst, Ed de Boer, Andrea Price and Paul Terrancini.
Foden’s open the weekend on the Friday evening, followed the next day by the Americans, Tredegar, the Junior RNCM Brass Band and Black Dyke. Sunday sees the RNCM Brass Band, Macclesfield Youth Brass, Cory and Brighouse & Rastrick.
There is a huge arc of music on show – linked by a celebratory 80th birthday thread of music by Edward Gregson (including his new Tenor Horn Concerto), but also with world premieres of works by Lucy Pankhurst, Ed de Boer, Andrea Price and Paul Terrancini.
Featured soloists include Ian Bousfield, David Bremner, David Childs, Ben Goldsheider, Tom Smith and Tommy Tynan, whilst there is a student led festival prelude, discussions and interviews.
Heroes
Royal College of Music Brass Band
Conductor: Ian Porthouse
Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall
Royal College of Music
London
Thursday 30th January (7.30pm)
Tickets: £5.00
Ian Porthouse leads the RCM Brass Band is Judith Bingham’s wonderfully atmospheric ‘Prague’, and Simon Dobson’s equally evocative examination of the life and work of Bela Bartok in ‘Journey of the Lone Wolf’.
There is also a world premiere of a new work by Brooklyn born composer and RCM student Molly Frances Arnuk and Ryan Richards’ clever arrangement of Beethoven’s overture from his ballet, ‘The Creatures of Prometheus’.
Norwegian National Championships
Grieghallen, Bergen
Friday 7th and Saturday 8th February
One of the great National contest weekends of the international brass band calendar as the magnificent Grieghallen is packed for two days of vibrant competitiveness with around 75 bands.
It may be 46 years old this year, but there is still plenty of youthful musical vigour driving the event.
The musical choices in each of the six sections are ambitious (sometimes widely so) and wide ranging with this year’s Elite Division set-work a revised version of Kjetil Djonne’s imposing ‘Catharsis’,
The musical choices in each of the six sections are ambitious (sometimes widely so) and wide ranging with this year’s Elite Division set-work a revised version of Kjetil Djonne’s imposing ‘Catharsis’, whilst the own-choice range from classic Sparke to contemporary crackers from Paul McGhee, Ludovic Neurohr and Gavin Higgins.
All this and you can enjoy ‘Audivi Media Nocte’ and ‘Myth Forest’ up against the likes of ‘Hypercube’ and ‘Afterlife’ in the First Division and an absolutely fantastic lucky-dip bag of musical goodies elsewhere.
UniBrass Championships
Cardiff University and Cardiff School of Music
Park Place
Cardiff
Saturday 15th February
Tickets: https://www.unibrass.co.uk/event-details/unibrass2025
One of the most excitable brass band events on the calendar comes to Cardiff in February when ensembles packed with students from over 20 universities and conservatories across the UK enjoy themselves in pursuit of the UniBrass Trophy and UniBrass Shield.
It's a brass band version of University Challenge for students from medicine and nuclear physics to media studies and even music – all pitted against each other with an ethos of fun and enjoyment.
“Oh! I won’t lie to you. At the end of the day when all’s said and done… it’s cracking it is…”
And after the contesting there is a great gala concert featuring the very Welsh musical talents of the Llareggub Brass Band to round things off perfectly with their brand of entertainment.
As Nessa from Gavin & Stacey just down the road in Barry Island would say: “Oh! I won’t lie to you. At the end of the day when all’s said and done… it’s cracking it is…”
