With the European Brass Band Championships due to take place in Birmingham at the end of the month 4BR has begun a new interview series with players, conductors and personalities who have made their mark on the event.

We started out with Phillip McCann who was the principal cornet of the winning Black Dyke Mills Band at the first ever contest at the Royal Albert Hall in 1978 — and we follow it with a conductor who made his first appearance at that event — Tom Brevik who conducted Manger Musikklag.

Tom talks about the importance of the European Championships to the development of the banding movement in Norway, what it meant to play right after Black Dyke — and how he was a trailblazer in writing the own-choice work for his band to play years before a certain Paul Raphael..

2022 European Championships:

To find out more about the 2022 European Championships in Birmingham and to book tickets for the events go to: https://www.bbe.org.uk/ebbf