The set-works and jury panel for the 2023 Belgian National Championships have been announced by VLAMO for the event which takes place for the 43rd time on the weekend of November 25th & 26th at CC Zwaneberg in Heist-op-den-Berg.

Four Impressions

The Championship Division contenders will be faced by 'Sinfonietta No. 2 — Quatre Impressions' by Pierre-Antoine Savoyat.

It pays tribute to the French impressionist music of the 20th century and the compositional giants of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel as well as lesser known but equally important figures such as Maurice Emmanuel or Raoul Bardac.

The four movement work evokes an impressionist view of a journey through different countries as if in a child's dream; the cyclical themes first introduced by flugel echoing a process used by both Ravel and Debussy, notably in their string quartets.

It received its premiere given by Hauts de France at the 2022 French National Championships and was performed again by them at the 2022 European Championships in Birmingham.

Afterlife

'Afterlife' by Belgian composer Stijn Aertgeerts will be performed in the First Division. The work reflects on his impressions of death and the unearthly domain, and the way musical themes have been used to infer this based on development of the famous 'Dies Irae' motif famously used by Berlioz in 'Symphonie Fantastique'.

It has also been chosen as the set-work for the First Division of the Dutch National Championships.

Prize winner

'Sinfonietta No. 1' by Marc Jeanbourquin, which won first prize in the 2023 Swiss Brass Band Association Composition Competition will test the bands in the Second Division, with the popular 'Beecher Variations' by Stephen Bulla facing the contenders in the Third Division.

There will also be an open section introduced that will see performers able to choose any own-choice work.

Jury

The adjudication jury for the event will be Isabelle Ruf-Weber from Switzerland, Joop van Dijk Joop van Dijk form the Netherlands and Steven Mead from the UK.

The Championship Division contenders will be faced by 'Sinfonietta No. 2 — Quatre Impressions' by Pierre-Antoine Savoyat4BR

Set Works:

Championship Division: Sinfonietta No. 2 — Quatre Impressions (Pierre-Antoine Savoyat)
First Division: Afterlife (Stijn Aertgeerts)
Second Division: Sinfonietta No. 1 (Marc Jeanbourquin)
Third Division: Beecher Variations (Stephen Bulla)