After a three-month competitive selection process, the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain has announced the four finalists that will take part in its 2023 Young Conductor Competition funded by the Garrick Charitable Trust.

Speaking about the success of the initiative which attracted worldwide entries, NYBBGC CEO Mark Bromley told 4BR: "This is now our second competition and I'm particularly thrilled that this year it is funded by the Garrick Charitable Trust and partnered by British Army Music."

Finalists

The four finalists are Andreas Ashikkis (aged 25), Felicity Cliffe (29), Joshua Parkhill (24) and Craig Sanders (28).

Andreas Ashikkis

Andreas' conducting journey started in Greece, where he pursued his first Master's Degree in Orchestral Conducting at the Ionian University.

In 2021 he relocated to Slovakia with the support of the Erasmus+ to continue his studies at the Academy of Performing Arts. Since 2022, he has been based in the UK, where he has conducted student, amateur, and professional orchestras such as the Halle and Manchester Camerata. He also conducted the RNCM Brass Band at the 2023 Brass Band Festival.

Felicity Cliffe

Felicity has been involved with numerous conducting programmes and courses, recently culminating in a masterclasses with the Royal Opera House Orchestra with Richard Hetherington and Paul Wynne Griffiths.

She completed her undergraduate degree at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and is currently studying for a Master's in conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music under the tutelage of Mark Heron and Clark Rundell.

Joshua Parkhill

Joshua began his musical training as a trombone player with the likes of Dallmelington, Whitburn and Ever Ready Bands. He is also a recent graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland where he was taught by Simon Johnson and Davur Juul Magnussen.

He first began conducting in 2021 with Brass Sounds Inverclyde with a great deal of success and is now also Resident Conductor of UNISON Kinneil Band

Craig Sanders

Since 2011 Craig has pursued his career in the Royal Marines Band Service where he studied percussion under Prof Matt King and was awarded the prestigious 'Princes Badge' and went on to gain his LRSM in Percussion performance.

He has a First-Class Honours Degree from the BMus (Hons) course at Plymouth University and is currently studying on the Royal Marines School of Music Bandmasters' course where he has also conducted The Band of HM Royal Marines Collingwood, Portsmouth and RMSoM.

The standard this year was very high. Both Prof King and I had a very difficult task reducing the high quality field down to just four finalistsDr Robert Childs

Hosts

British Army Music will host the competition final as well as open brass workshop on 13th January at the Garrison Theatre in Tidworth, Wiltshire.

Mark Bormley added: "If you can get to Tidworth and would like to support the young finalists in the morning and spend the afternoon with the National Youth Band in the afternoon under the baton of Lt Col Dave Barringer we'd love to see you. Admission is free."

Alongside Prof David King, Dr Robert Childs had the task of judging all entries and said: "The standard this year was very high. Both Prof King and I had a very difficult task reducing the high quality field down to just four finalists.

We would both like to thank all the entrants for their interest and wish them all the best of luck in the future. We're sure the final will be exciting with such exciting talent to enjoy and assess."

Find out more

Further details on the finalists can be found at: www.nybbgb.org.uk