The test pieces that will be performed at the 2023 Spring Festival in Blackpool were announced in the programme of the 168th British Open Championship on the weekend.

The festival which comprises the Grand Shield, Senior Cup and Senior Trophy contests will take place at Blackpool's Winter Gardens on Saturday 13th May.

Grand Shield

As has become customary, the British Open test piece, 'The World Rejoicing — Symphonic Variations on a Lutheran Chorale' will be used as the set work for the Grand Shield. Two bands will qualify for the 2023 British Open Championships.

Senior Cup

Philip Sparke's popular 'A London Overture' will face the bands in the Senior Cup.

Commissioned for the Dutch National Championships in 1984 it has been performed at numerous major events around the world since — including the 1991 European Championship, the First Section National Finals in 1992 and the First Section Regional Championships in 2015.

Senior Trophy

Edrich Siebert's exciting arrangement of Cesar Franck's symphonic poem 'The Accursed Huntsman' (Le Chasseur Maudit) will face the bands in the Senior Trophy.

First used at the 1973 British Open Championship, but rarely played in intervening years, it was also used at the Grand Shield in 1987.

The original tale, not unlike that which inspired 'Tam O'Shanter's Ride', is inspired by the balled 'The Wild Hunter', and of a German nobleman who defies the teachings of the Sabbath to go hunting on a Sunday morning — resulting in the hunter becoming the hunted by demons for all eternity.

2023 Spring Festival:

Grand Shield: The World Rejoicing — Symphonic Variations on a Lutheran Chorale (Edward Gregson)

Senior Cup: A London Overture (Philip Sparke)

Senior Trophy: The Accursed Huntsman (Cesar Franck arr. Edrich Siebert)