Brass Band Buizingen has claimed the 5th Flemish Open title in an exciting competition held at the City Theatre in Mechelen in Belgium.

Directed by Luc Vertommen, they secured the bi-annual title for a second time with commanding performances of the short set work, ‘Festival March’ by Leslie Condon, followed by Peter Graham’s ‘Prelude on Tallis’ and an outstanding rendition of their own choice test piece selection, ‘Symphony in Two Movements’ by Edward Gregson.

It saw the band pick up the first prize of a Besson Prestige tenor horn as they repelled the strong challenge of rivals Noord-Limburgse Brassband, directed by Ivan Melyemans.

In addition to the set work, they performed the finale from Mendelsohn’s ‘Violin Concerto’, featuring horn star Tim De Maeseneer, and Philip Sparke’s, ‘Music of the Spheres’.

The final podium place went to Festival Brassband led by Dirk De Caluwé, who performed ‘Tristan Encounters’ to add to the flugel solo by Yvonne Peters of ‘Milestone’ by Peter Meechan.

B Section:

In a close battle for the B Section title, victory went to Youth Brass Band Nordrhein-Westfalen conducted by Martin Schädlich.

They took the Besson Sovereign cornet first prize thanks to a programme that included fine renditions of the set work, ‘Phoenix’ by Peter Graham, followed by ‘A Begging I Will Go’ by the folk group Bellowhead and a hard working account of ‘Harmony Music’.

Second place went to reigning Belgian National Champion Brassband Scaldis, conducted by Raf Van Looveren, who added ‘Vivat!’ by Tom Davoren, ‘O Magnum Mysterium’ and the march ‘The Waltonian’ to their set work performance.

The final podium place went to Brassband Bacchus, conducted by Bart Van Neyghem, who performed ‘Corpus Christi’ in addition to the horn solo ‘Secret Hymn’ featuring Stign Berbe on horn and Martin Cordner’s ‘Fusion’.

C Section:

The trio of competitors in the C Section also produced fine entertainment as Brass Band Atout Vent conducted by William Houssoy took the honours and the John Packer baritone first prize, ahead of rivals Brassband Smeermaas and Belgian National Champion Brassband Euterpe.

The winners programme included the short set work, ‘Banks of Doon’ arranged by Luc Vertommen as well as ‘Rocket’ by Alan Fernie and their own choice test piece selection of ‘Shine as the Light’ by Peter Graham.

D Section:

Finally, in the D Section Brassband Looft den Heer Beetgumermolen conducted by Paulus de Jong took the 500 Euros first prize, ahead of rivals Brassband Leest and United Brass.

The winner’s programme included a fine rendition of the excellent set work, ‘The King of Love My Shepherd’ arranged by Mike Kilmartin, as well as their eclectic selections of the ‘A Fanfare of Daffodils’ from the former European test piece, ‘Five Blooms in a Welsh Garden’, ‘Lake of the Moon’ by Kevin Houben, ‘An Untold Story’, by Paul Lovatt Cooper and ‘Calling Cornwall’ by Goff Richards.

With thanks to Johan Verlinden

It saw the band pick up the first prize of a Besson Prestige tenor horn as they repelled the strong challenge of rivals Noord-Limburgse Brassband, directed by Ivan Melyemans4BR

Results:
Section A:

Set Piece: Festival March — Universal Message (Leslie Condon)
Adjudicators: Rob Goorhuis (NL), Blaise Héritier (CH), Frank Renton (UK)

1. Brassband Buizingen (Luc Vertommen): — 95.7%
2. Noord-Limburgse Brassband (Ivan Meylemans): — 91.0%
3. Festival Brassband (Dirk De Caluwé): — 89.3%
4. 3BA Concert Band (Franz Matysiak): — 84.7%
5= Brassband Heist (Bert Van Thienen): — 84.0%
5= Brassband Leieland (Wouter Loose): — 84.0 %

Best Set Piece Performance: Noord-Limburgse Brassband

Section B:
Set Piece: Phoenix (Peter Graham)
Adjudicators: Rob Goorhuis (NL), Blaise Héritier (CH), Frank Renton (UK)

1. Youth Brass Band Nordrhein-Westfalen (Martin Schädlich): — 92.7%
2. Brassband Scaldis (Raf Van Looveren): — 92.0%
3. Brassband Bacchus (Bart Van Neyghem): — 88.7%
4. Brassband Excelsior Kloetinge (Bart Van Neyghem): — 87.7%
5. Cologne Concert Brass (Heinrich Schmidt): — 85.7%

Best Set Piece Performance: Brassband Scaldis

Section C:
Set Piece: Banks of Doon (trad. arr. Luc Vertommen)
Adjudicators: Rob Goorhuis (NL), Blaise Héritier (CH), Frank Renton (UK)

1. Brass Band Atout Vent (William Houssoy): — 91.3%
2. Brassband Smeermaas (Danny Aerden): — 88.3%
3. Brassband Euterpe (Roland Van Buggenhout): — 86.3%

Best Set Piece Performance: Brass Band Atout Vent

Section D:
Set Piece: The King of Love My Shepherd Is (trans. Mike Kilmartin)
Adjudicators: Rob Goorhuis (NL), Blaise Héritier (CH), Frank Renton (UK)

1. Brassband Looft den Heer Beetgumermolen (Paulus de Jong): — 92.3%
2. Brassband Leest (Walter Van de Venne): — 87.7%
3. United Brass (Frank Vantroyen): — 87.3%
4. Brassband Lembeek (Hans Goris): — 83.7%
5. Brass Band de Roncq (Françis Billet): — 80.0%

Best Set Piece Performance: Brassband Looft den Heer Beetgumermolen