The 19th annual BrassWind Festival recently took place in Asane Kulturhus just north of Bergen.

17 artists and ensembles were featured at the event which is organised by Manger Musikklag with an ethos of promoting new and original music for brass, wind and percussion performers.

New lead

Craig Farr took over the artistic direction this year from composer Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen, who had been the driving force behind the festival since its inception, and boldly carried on its innovative ambition with no fewer than 19 premieres.

These ranged from new works for solo trumpet, through chamber orchestra and electronics, to a concerto for symphonic wind band and new works written for double brass band.

Artists and tensions

The Artist in Residence was Nate Wooley, an internationally acclaimed jazz trumpeter based in New York. In addition to solo recitals and talks, Nate performed as a soloist with the Obsidian Ensemble and Bergen Cornet Ensemble as well as exploring exciting avenues of emerging and experimental techniques.

Saturday evening saw the hosts, Manger Musikklag perform under their new Artistic Director, Allan Withington with works from Kjell Flem and Paul McGhee.

Also featured were world premieres of 'Surface Tension' by American-Dutch composer Ellen Lindquist, and 'Snøskrømt' by the young Norwegian composer Kolbein Eide Bukve who was the winner of Manger Musikklag's 2023 'Sound of Youth' young composer competition.

Youth collaboration

The final day was given over to the 'Children's BrassWind'. Now in its second year, it gives school bands the opportunity to perform at a high-profile event as well as work with composers to create new works.

Local school brass and wind bands from Manger and Midtun performed — the latter sharing a concert with their adult counterparts in Skjold Nesttun, whilst the Hordaland Ungdoms Brass Band (HUBB) shared a concert with Norwegian Champion, Eikanger-Bjørsvik.

They performed two works for double brass band — one from the pen of Swiss composer Ludovic Neurohr and the other a world premiere of Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen's 'Avtrykk'.

Remarkable festival

Speaking about their involvement, a spokesperson for Eikanger told 4BR: "This was the fourth time that we have participated in this remarkable festival, and on this occasion we were thrilled to be able to link with our regional youth band Hordaland Ungdomsbrassband (HUBB).

The joint 'double band' works were such a great combination, with Ludovic's 'Becoming Giants' conducted by Reid Gilje, a four-movement work that made a huge impact with the audience."

That 'imprint' can be positive if there is an interaction between the generations — something which Torstein explored using the musical interaction between the adult and the youth band on stageEikanger Bjorsvik Musikklag

Imprint

They added: "The world premiere of 'Imprint' (Avtrykk) by Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen was commissioned by us alongside the Norwegian Arts Council and explored questions and challenges that arise from decisions made by adults on the young generations to come on climate change.

That 'imprint' can be positive if there is an interaction between the generations — something which Torstein explored using the musical interaction between the adult and the youth band on stage."

Exciting plans

A spokesperson for the festival told 4BR: "We would like to thank the sponsors that made this year's event so special, especially the help received from the Grieg Foundation, the Arts Council of Norway and Equinor.

We are already looking forward to next year's festival and have exciting plans underway to celebrate the 20th anniversary of BrassWind."