It has been confirmed that 65 bands will compete at the Swiss National Championships in Lucerne next weekend.

The event takes place at the city's famous Culture and Congress Centre (KKL) on the 25th & 26th November with competitors vying to claim victory in six categories.

Special Award

In addition to the competitive prizes, it will also see a special 'SBBA Merit Award' presentation made to Arsène Duc, the inspirational MD of Valaisia Brass Band.

The Championships kick off on Saturday (25th November) at 9.00am the Second Section contest at the Luzerner Saal, followed by the Third Section.

At the same time, the main Salle Blanche auditorium will host the Fourth Section (9.45am), followed by the Elite Section (11.30am), before the top-flight Championship Section bands take to the stage for the set-test discipline from 5.00pm.

The results of the Elite, Second, Third and Fourth Sections will be announced in the Luzerner Saal at 10.00 pm.

Sunday climax

Sunday (26th November), sees the First Section bands open at 9.00am in the Luzerner Saal, before the top flight bands return with their own-choice selections from 12.15pm in the main Salle Blanche. The results will be announced at 6.15pm.

Before the announcement, the presentation of the 'SBBA Merit Award' by Ariane Brun, former president and honorary member of the SBBA, will be made to Arsene Duc.

New Swiss works

As part of the 'Year of Swiss Literature' project organised by the Swiss Wind Band Association, the Swiss Brass Band Association (SBBA) has decided to feature Swiss test-piece music.

This has resulting in two new works being commissioned: 'Sinfonietta No1' by Marc Jeanbourquin, which won the SBBA's composition competition, will be used in the Second Section, whilst 'Resilience: le jour d'apres' by Adrian Perera, which won the Swiss Wind Band Association's composition competition has been adapted to be used in the Fourth Section.

The bands in the First Section will perform 'Sinfonietta No 3' by Etienne Crausaz, whilst the Third Division contenders will tackle 'Focus' by Fritz Voegelin. The Elite Section bands will perform Bertrand Moren's 'Blue Horizons'.

In addition to the competitive prizes, the event will also see a special 'SBBA Merit Award' presentation made to Arsene Duc, the inspirational musical director of Valaisia Brass Band4BR

Hypercube test and own choices

'Hypercube', by Oliver Waespi, is the set-work in the top-flight Championship Section.

The defending champion is Brass Band Treize Etoiles. As they are also 2023 European Champion, they are pre-qualified for the 2024 event in Palanga. A second Swiss band will therefore join them there.

As always there will be a great deal of interest in the selection of own-choice works being used by the top bands.

This year they include 'Eclipse' (anonymous); 'Karma' (Ludovic Neurohr); 'Magnetism' (Gilles Rocha); 'Sunrise with Sea Monsters' (Oliver Waespi); 'Synthetic Species' (Théo Schmitt); 'Antiphonies on Themes by William Byrd' (Oliver Waespi); 'Da Vinci' (Ludovic Neurohr); 'The Fallen Bride' (Ludovic Neurohr); 'Midnight Butterflies' (Maurice Donnet-Monay) and 'Other Lives' (Oliver Waespi).

Judges

The international panel of judges are Jonathan Bates;, Mario Burki;, Simon Dobson; Philip Harper; Blaise Heritier;, Katrina Marzella-Wheeler; Peter Meechan; Dominique Morel and David Morton (GB).

Information and ticket orders at http://www.swissbrass.ch