65 bands will compete at the Swiss National Championships in Lucerne this 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'.

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; Dr Robert Childs; Simon Dobson; Philip Harper; Blaise Heritier; Katrina Marzella-Wheeler; Dominique Morel and David Morton.

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

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 there4BR

Competing bands:

Excellence Division:

Set Work: Hypercube (Oliver Waespi)

Brass Band Berner Oberland (Veronique Gyger)
Brass Band Fribourg A (Florent Didier)
Brass Band Treize Etoiles (Frederic Theodoloz)
Brass Band Burgermusik Luzern (Michael Bach)
Ensemble de Cuivres Jurassien A (Ueli Kipfer)
Ensemble de Cuivres Melodia A (Vincent Baroni)
Ensemble de Cuivres Valaisan (François Roh)
Liberty Brass Band (Stefan Roth)
Oberaargauer Brass Band OBB (Russell Gray)
Valaisia Brass Band (Arsene Duc)

Elite Division:

Set Work: Blue Horizons (Bertrand Moren)

BML Talents (Patrick Ottiger)
Brass Band Eglisau (Andreas Buri)
Brass Band Emmental (Jan Muller)
Brass Band Harmonie Neuenkirch (Manuel Imhof)
Brass Band Kirchenmusik Fluhli (Armin Renggli)
Brass Band Rickenbach (Florian Lang)
Ensemble de cuivres Euphonia (Michael Bach)
Graubunden Brass (Gian Stecher)
Regional Brass Band Bern (Manuel Renggli)
Universal Brass Band Wil (Gian Steche)

First Division:

Set Work: Sinfonietta No.3 (Etienne Crausaz)

AEW Concert Brass Fricktal (Florentin Setz)
Brass Band Cazis (Robin Bartholini)
Brass Band Fribourg B (Aurelien Darbellay)
Brass Band Imperial Lenzburg A (Philipp Werlen)
Brass Band Konkordia Busserach (Christoph Bangerter)
Brass Band Lotschental (Yvan Lagger)
Brass Band MG Reiden (Roland Froscher)
Brass Band RosAlp (David Bonvin)
Brass Band Schotz (Ueli Wigger)
Brass Band Thurgau (Daniel Gubler)
Brass Band Treize Etoiles B (Lionel Fumeaux)
Ensemble de Cuivres AMBITUS (Damien Lagger)
Fanfare Paroissiale d'Ursy (Cyril Perrenoud)
mgrr Brass Band (Roman Caprez)

Second Division:

Set Work: Sinfonietta No. 1 (Marc Jeanbourquin)

Brass Band Abinchova (Gian Walker)
Brass Band Berner Oberland Junior (Joram Bots)
Brass Band Feldmusik Escholzmatt (Zeno Schmidiger)
Brass Band Harmonie Rickenbach (Luca Frischknecht)
Brass Band Imperial Lenzburg B (Reto Naf)
Brass Band Junior Valaisan (Fabien Beney)
Brass Band Matzendorf (Cyrill Schaub)
Brass Band Rapperswil-Wierezwil (Jonas Danuser)
Brass Band Zurich (Werner Kubli)
Constellation Brass Band B (Olivier Vergeres)
Ensemble de Cuivres Melodia B (Joelle Gaillard)
Liberty Junior (Stefan Roth)
MG Konkordia Aedermannsdorf (Simon Gertschen)
Musik Frohsinn Oberburg (Jan Muller)
Musikverein Kunten (Stefan Marki)
Oberwalliser Brass Band (Tobias Salzgeber)
Societe de musique Brass Band de Lignieres (Cyril Perrenoud

Third Division:

Set Work: Focus (Fritz Voegelin)

Brass Band Franches-Montagnes (Frederic Praz)
Brass Band Gurbetal (Joram Bots)
Brass Band Nordwestschweiz (Reto Naf)
360° Brass (Roman Schnelli)
Ensemble de Cuivres Jurassien B (Boris Oppliger)
MG Brass Band Lengnau (Markus Hauenstein)
MG Richenthal-Langnau (Fabian Brudermann)
Musikgesellschaft Jenaz (Tristan Uth)
Musikgesellschaft Muhlau (Peter Stadlemann)
Thunerseebrass (Christoph Hertig)

Fourth Division:

Set Work: Resilience (Adrian Perera)

Entlebucher Jugend Brass Band (Patrick Notter)
HinterlAnder Jugend Brass Band (Luca Frischknecht)
Jugend Brass Band Michelsamt (Joel Spitaleri)
Jugend Brass Band Oberer Sempachersee (Mattia Klau)