The list of own choice selections and adjudication panels for the 34th European Brass Band Championships to be held in Montreux in Switzerland have been announced.
15 bands
The Festival, which takes place between April 23rd and May 1st, will see a total of 15 bands perform in the Championship and B Sections at the magnificent Stravinski Auditorium. The Festival will also host the 5th European Conductor Competition and the 9th European Youth Brass Band.
Defending champion
Defending champion Cory head the list of top section challengers, as they seek their fourth consecutive European title. Welsh compatriots and British Open champion, Tredegar, join them.
English National champions Fairey (Geneva) fly the flag of St George, whilst Kingdom Brass will lead Scotland’s assault.
European challenge
The strong European challenge is lead by the home favourites Treize Etoiles, with a strong Scandinavian trio making the trip in the form of 2010 double winning Norwegian champion Manger Musikklag, Swedish debutants Windcorp and the familiar Danish challengers Lyngby-Taarbaek.
The competitive duo of Noord-Limburgse and Brass Band Schoonhoven will represent the Low Countries of Belgium and The Netherlands.
Debate
A great deal of debate has already been created by the thrilling set work, ‘Audivi Media Nocte’ by Swiss composer Oliver Waspi, which includes two extended passages of virtuosity for separate trios of percussion, tuba, trombone, cornet and euphonium.
The three set work judges are Thomas Doss (Austria), Frode Amundsen (Norway) and Eric Crees (England).
Own choice selections
As ever the list of own choice selections will cause a few eyebrows to be raised, as each of the 10 bands showcase their considerable talents.
Three new works with intriguing titles will be premiered at the contest, including two by young British composer’s Simon Dobson and Gavin Higgins – ‘A Symphony of Colours’ and ‘Destroy, Trample, as Swiftly as She’, as well as Torstein Aagaard- Nilsen’s, ‘Old Licks Bluesed Up’.
A former European set work in ‘From Ancient Times’ will be performed as former successful own choice discipline winners ‘A Tale As Yet Untold’, ‘Montage’ and ‘Music of the Spheres’ as well as two British Open set works, ‘Titan’s Progress’ and ‘Rococo Variations’ and the 2008 National Finals test piece, ‘Concerto for Band’ by Kenneth Downie.
Defending champion Cory head the list of top section challengers, as they seek their fourth consecutive European title4BR
Judges
The own choice judges are Blaise Heritier (Switzerland), Allan Withington (England) and Luc Vertommen (Belgium).
Competing Bands:
Championship Section:
Test piece: Audivi Media Nocte (Oliver Waespi)
Brass Band Schoonhoven — Netherlands (Erik Janssen)
Brass Band 13 Etoiles — Switzerland (James Gourlay)
Cory — Wales (Dr Robert Childs)
Kingdom Brass – Scotland (Andrew Duncan)
Lyngby-Taarbaek – Denmark (N/K)
Manger Musikklag — Norway (Peter Szilvay)
Noord-Limburgse — Belgium (Ivan Meylemans)
The Fairey (Geneva) Band — England (Russell Gray)
Tredegar Town — Wales (Ian Porthouse)
Windcorp — Sweden (Garry Cutt)
Own Choice Selections include:
A Symphony of Colours (Simon Dobson)
A Tale as Yet Untold (Philip Sparke)
Concerto for Brass Band (Kenneth Downie)
Destroy, Trample, as Swiftly as She (Gavin Higgins)
From Ancient Times (Jan Van der Roost)
Montage (Peter Graham)
Music of the Spheres (Philip Sparke)
Rococo Variations (Edward Gregson)
Old Licks Bluesed Up (Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen)
Titan's Progress (Herman Pallhuber)
The Championship Section test piece section of the contest starts on the afternoon of Friday 29th April, with the own-choice section on the afternoon of Saturday 30th April.
B Section:
The B Section takes place on the morning of Saturday 30th April and will feature five bands, headed by reigning champion Austrian Brass Band of the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz.
They will be joined by former champions Brass Band Oberschwaben-Allgäu of Germany, title winners back in 1995, whilst the home nation is represented by Ensemble de Cuivres Euphonia, who won the First Section of the Swiss National Championships in Montreux last November.
France is represented by EXO Brass, whilst there is a debut for Messina Brass Band from Italy.
Among the works to be played are Excalibur (Jan Van der Roost), Extreme Makeover (Johan de Meij), Of Men and Mountains (Edward Gregson), Partita (Philip Sparke) and Trittico (James Curnow).
The set work is entitled ‘Vertex’ by Swiss composer, Stephan Hodel.
Competing Bands:
Austrian Brass Band of the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz — Austria (Prof. Uwe Köller)
Brass Band Oberschwaben-Allgäu – Germany (Peter Schmid)
Exo Brass — France (Gildas Harnois)
Messina Brass Band — Italy (Paratore Giuseppe)
Ensemble de Cuivres Euphonia – Switzerland (Michael Bach)
The events are in cooperation with the Swiss Brass Band Association.
Further details
Further details can be found at: http://www.eurofestival2011.ch/english/index.html
The timetable of all events can be found at:
http://www.eurofestival2011.ch/english/index.html
