IYOKO, a Spanish brass ensemble made up of five musicians who met whilst studying for their bachelor's degrees at Musikene, Centro Superior de Musica del Pais Vaco in San Sebastian, has won the 2026 Philip Jones International Brass Ensemble Competition.
Success at the eighth edition of the global competition which started in 2013 came after six days of high-quality performances from 14 ensembles at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire hosted by its Artistic Director Amos Miller.
The event (open to brass ensembles with performers aged 18-30) was judged by an international panel led by Annamia Larsson, principal horn of the Gavle Symphony Orchestra, alongside Ashley Hall-Tighe (trumpet), Oren Marshall (tuba), Peter Moore (trombone) and Tom Poulson (trumpet).
Global entrants
From the initial set of on-line global entrants, 14 ensembles were invited to Birmingham to showcase their programmes (up to 27 minutes) as well as enjoy workshop tuition from members of the panel.
Six semi-finalists were then chosen (providing new programmes of up to 37 minutes) with three making it to the final where they gave sets of up to 45 minutes each, including at least one prescribed work.
For their semi-final appearance IYOKO performed works by Gabrieli, MacRae, Ewald and Bernstein. They were joined in the final by Les Brasseurs from Italy and The Five Brass Quintet from Slovenia.
Winner
IYOKO claimed the first prize of £6,000, with 'Circus' by Jordi Griso, as well as Luciano Berio's prescribed work 'Call', 'ONYX30' by Mark Anthony Turnage, 'Romance del Pescador' for reciter and brass quartet, and David Biedenbender's 'Sacred Geometry'.
The award was presented to them by Ursula Jones OBE, the inspirational force that has made the competition into the leading event of its kind.
The ensemble will now be invited to perform at other leading events with the hope that they may also return for a special concert in March 2028 at Wigmore Hall, London, marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of Philip Jones. They were also presented with the Onyx Brass Publishing Prize worth £500 as the ensemble showing 'invention in programming'.
German studies
IYOKO is made up of trumpet players Alvaro Garcia Martin and Jaime Martin Rodriguez, Fren horn, Anton Caneda Telmo and trombonists Juan Cancer Navarro and Oscar Cuartero Gracia.
They have already gained critical acclaim for their performances in concerts and festivals throughout Spain and have also worked with Leonhard Paul (Mnozil Brass), Miguel GarcÃa Casas (Frankfurt Opera) and Miroslav Petkov (Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra).
In 2022 and 2023, they were artists-in-residence at the Ticino Musica Festival and are currently studying with Professor Mark Hampson at Dusseldorf Conservatoire, where under his direction they won second prize at the prestigious Rometsch Competition last May.
Speaking to 4BR about the ensemble he said: "I am very proud of them. Their determination is matched by their musical ethos which they have developed with great maturity as the first ever brass group on our pioneering two-year chamber ensemble course at the Conservatoire."
Italy and Slovenia on podium
Second prize and £4,000 went to the Italian ensemble, Les Brasseurs Quintet, who boast collaborations with major Italian symphonic and opera institutions, including Teatro alla Scala, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Teatro Regio di Torino.
In the final they performed Anders Hillbourg's 'Brass Quintet' as well as the prescribed work, 'Seventeen Variations on a theme by John Dowland' written by Timothy Jackson and Daniel Schnyder's 'Brass Quintet.
The FiveBrass Brass Quintet from Slovenia was placed third, winning £2,000, with works by Berio, Malcolm Arnold, Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Andre Lafosse and Kevin McKee, whilst the Clarence Myerscough Trust Award and £1,000 for the most promising semi-finalist went to The Copperatives Brass Quintet from Hungary whose members had an average age of just 19.
The award was presented to them by Ursula Jones OBE, the inspirational force that has made the competition into the leading event of its kind4BR
Success
Competition Artistic Director, Amos Miller later told 4BR: "This edition of the Philip Jones International Brass Ensemble Competition was a resounding success — reinforced by its global reach, prestige and outstandingly high standard of performance.
As always, an enormous debt of gratitude is owed to the founder and supporter, Ursula Jones, for her tireless support of young brass players."
In response, Ursula Jones OBE added: "It was a very exciting and interesting week in Birmingham. My thanks go to Amos and John Miller for their support.
All the ensembles performed at a very high level, and it was not easy for the judges to pick the semi-finalists let alone the finalist. If Philip was with us, he would have been thrilled to see and hear the progress and development made in brass chamber music over the last two or three decades and through this competition in his name."
Apart from a celebration for Philip Jones' 100th birthday in March 2028, Ursula Jones OBE is now working on other major brass ensemble events — the 8th biennial 'Brass Spectacular' at King's Place in London in February 2028 which will feature a number of leading student ensembles from eight major UK music colleges, as well as another Brass Chamber Music Day at Wigmore Hall in the future.
Result:
1. IYOKO (Spain)
2. Les Brasseurs Quintet (Italy)
3. The FiveBrass Brass Quintet (Slovenia)
Clarence Myerscough Trust Award: Copperatives Brass Quintet
Semi Finalists (apart from finalists):
Paramount Brass (UK); BrassUnit (Sweden); Copperatives Brass Quintet (Hungary)
Other competitors:
Concord Brass Quintet (Germany); Consort Brass (UK); The Midway Brass (USA); Norabakken Brass Quintet (Norway); Queentet (UK); Robin Brass Quintet (USA); Silk Street Five (UK); Wigfield Brass (UK)
