The Belgian National Championships will take place on November 29th at the Lemmensinstituut in Leuven.

Renovation

Due to renovation the contest will not be held at the Brussels Conservatory as usual, but at the Lemmens Institute Concert Hall in Leuven. It is a change that might surprise some of the bands as organisers have informed them that it is very different to the usual venue in terms of acoustic.

This year a total of 17 bands will be competing, with quite some changes and movement in the lower sections.

Judges

John Berryman, Fred Harles and Dirk Lautenbach will be adjudicating the lower section set pieces, whilst David Read, Malcolm Brownbill and Derek Broadbent will be judging the lower section 'own choice' and the Championship section set work.

Adjudicators will no longer be separated in three boxes, but will all be housed in one box.

Adjudicators will no longer be separated in three boxes, but will all be housed in one box4BR

Championship Section

With John Pickard’s 'Eden' as test piece the critics of last year’s 'Checkmate' being to easy for this section are certainly fading away, as it is expected that the work will certainly push the competing bands to the limit.

Although some bands have undergone some personnel change, the lineup of the bands is the same as last year.

The bi question on everyone's lips though is whether Willebroek will be able to regain their status of Belgium’s best band, or if once more another band is going to take the title.

Championship contenders:
Brassband Buizingen (Luc Vertommen)
Brassband Willebroek (Frans Violet)
Festival Brass Band (Manu Mellaerts)
Kortrijk Brass Band (Lieven Maertens)
Metropole Brass Band (Guy Audenaert)
Noord-Limburgse Brassband (Ivan Meylemans)

1st Section

The 1st Section is up from 2 to 3 bands this year as Leieland joins the section after winning the 2nd Section last year.

The set work is 'Royal Parks', and, although not officially announced yet, there is expected to be some very interesting own choices too.

Competing bands:
Brass Band Heist (Bert Van Thienen)
Brass Band Leieland (Wouter Loose)
Brassband Zele (Bart Van Der Strieckt)

2nd section

This year the section is down in numbers from 4 to 2 bands as Brassband Mons has decided not to compete and last year’s winners taking the step to the 1st section. The bands will have to overcome Curnow’s 'Trittico'.

Competing bands:
Brassband Panta Rhei Gent (Paul Voet)
Brassband Scaldis (Erwin Pallemans)

3rd Section:

Perhaps the most interesting competition of the weekend will be the 3rd Section, where two brand new bands will be competing for the first time (Brassband Ghent and Brassband Hageland).

Last year’s winners Brass a Musica will defend their title and Smeermaas is back after a year away. The band's will have to try and overcome the difficulties of Eric Ball’s 'Resurgam' — a very interesting and difficult set piece for this section.

Competing bands:
Brass a Musica (Michael Dils)
Brassband 'De Grensbewoners' Smeermaas (Danny Aerden)
Brassband Euterpe Merchtem (Roland Van Buggenhout)
Brassband Gent (Lieven Dobbelaere)
Kon. Brassband Retie ( Kevin Houben)
Brassband Hageland (Tim Van Medegael)