Composer Andrew Wainwright has won the River City Brass, 40th anniversary Composers Competition.

His work, 'Resilience' beat off competition from 66 other entrants from 14 counties, gaining the approval of an adjudication panel consisting of Artistic/Music Director James Gourlay, Dr. Peter Graham, Dr. Martin Ellerby, and RCB personnel Drew Fennell and Abigail Langhorst to win the $2,000 first prize.

Three other finalists each received $1,000 with their works also to be given world premieres in the band's future concert programmes.

Wonderful response

Marketing & Communications Manager Cassandra Muhr told 4BR: "We enjoyed a wonderful response from around the world and the initial 67 entrants were whittled down to 16 before our audiences and band members at our subscription series in April and May voted on the four finalists."

Andrew's work was up against a trio of high quality compositions — 'Awakening' by Marcus Venables, 'Dance with the Brass Tonight' by Katerina Horka and 'Never Celt Better' by Jared McCunnie.

Lot of fun

Artistic Director James Gourlay added: "We were pleasantly surprised at the feedback we received from the audience, commenting not just on whether they liked, or disliked, a piece, but on the compositional styles and textures they perceived.

All in all, we had a lot of fun running the competition and will do it again the year after next."