24 year old Hannah Caraker, originally from Florida, but who lived for a short while in the UK this year, has been crowned the winner of the 2026 Brass Band Conductors Association Conductors Competition.

Run with the support of Yamaha and the Yorkshire Music Future Trust, it recently saw 10 semi-finalists head to Halifax Minster to work with Hammonds and Elland Silver Bands in their bid to claim the flagship title.

Finalists

After an intense adjudication process by Chris Houlding and Andrea Price, where each contender worked on either Andrew Wainwright's 'Metamorphosis on Finlandia' or 'Ghosts of Industry' by Lucy Pankhurst, Hannah, who has a Masters Degree in Euphonium Performance from James Madison University in the USA, was joined in the final by Si Nok Wong, Robert Fraser, Oliver Wilson and Rita Arendz.

In what was described by the judges as an excellent overall standard the others semi-finalists were Neil Brownless; Oliver Wilson; Alan Duguid; Fiona Bishop; Tom Hancock and Harry Bennett.

During the final the quintet tackled the classic brass band arrangement of Verdi's 'Nabucco' overture with Elland Silver Band, before Hannah was announced as the winner, ahead of runner-up, Robert Fraser with Si Nok Wong in third.

Foden's link

Hannah was presented with the Roy Newsome Conductors Shield, a £200 cash prize and a year's free membership of BBCA. Hannah has also been invited to act as understudy to Russell Gray in Foden's preparation for the National Championships later this year, as well as conduct them in concert.

Speaking about the event, BBCA Chairperson, James Holt, commented: "This has been a fantastic event with entrants of an extremely high calibre. Our conductors showed great skill and musicality and I'm sure they will go on to build on their performances and the feedback they've received from our adjudicators."

This has been a fantastic event with entrants of an extremely high calibreBBCA Chairperson, James Holt

Rewarding day

He added: "This flagship competition is a very rewarding day for the BBCA and we hope to continue to provide such opportunities to many more conductors.

My thanks go to Chris Houlding and Andrea Price, both Hammonds and Elland Silver Band, Halifax Minster and sponsors Yamaha and the Yorkshire Music Future Fund Trust.

This is a competition that continues to grow in stature and today's excellence certainly showed that."