Deutsche Brass Band Verband (DBBV), the organisers of the German National Brass Band Championships have informed 4BR that they wish to welcome bands from across Europe to compete in its flagship Championship Section contest in October.

Regensburg

Held for the first time in four years due to Covid-19, the event has moved to the Bavarian city of Regensburg in south-east Germany, with the Championships taking place at the outstanding facilities offered by the University of Regensburg over the weekend of the 1st & 2nd October.

Speaking with 4BR, Dr. Johannes Leutloff; "We would like to offer a warm welcome to international bands who would like to compete in the Championship Division of the National Championships this year.

The event is a wonderful opportunity to reach out to banding world and the Audimax of the University of Regensburg offers the ideal setting in which the participating bands can hold their competition and celebrate together."

Singularity

The Championship Division set-work will be 'Journey into Singularity' by Mathias Wehr, who won the European Brass Band Championship Conductors title in Stavanger in 2008 and was a finalist in the 2019 Cory/RWCMD Composition Prize competition.

The work is inspired by the thought that artificial intelligence (AI) will one day surpass human intelligence — a date assessed to be around 2045 by US computer pioneer and author Raymond Kurzweil in his 1998 book 'The Singularity is near'.

The composer states: "The theory of singularity is much more than a science fiction gimmick. The predicted point in time of the singularity has been postponed several decades into the future by futurologists.

What is certain, however, is that we are already on the 'Journey into Singularity' and it is very likely that it will come as a surprise, possibly even for those involved in the development."

The adjudicators for the contest will be Dr Robert Childs, Ray Farr and Jacob de Haan.

Interested

Interested bands should contact: dbbm@dbbv.org