Nico Schippers of the New Trombone Collective and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra has provided the British Trombone Society with an update on the Slide Factory ‘07 events in Rotterdam and a special offer to anyone registering before Sunday 1 April 2007.

Get your adrenalin going at a jazz concert, goose bumps from the velvety sound of Michel Becquet, cut loose at the Gala Concert, enjoy the peace and harmony of a world class baroque ensemble, play together with the Marine Band of the Royal Netherlands Navy.

Two years after the first successful edition, the New Trombone Collective has organised the trombone festival of Europe. It offers music lovers and all trombone players, amateur or professional, a unique experience. Unconventional, superior quality, crème de la crème, something of interest for everybody.

If you register before April 1st, you’ll have a special discount for the Festival Pass All-in.

Along with the listening experience we offer active trombone players of all levels unique opportunities to participate before and during the festival.

Slide Workshops
For amateur trombonists Slide Workshops will take place throughout the Netherlands. These will be given by Jos Jansen, bass trombone of the Marine Band of the Royal Netherlands Navy, and various members of the New Trombone Collective. Technical advice will be given as well as the preparation of a piece that you can perform with the Marine Band at the final concert of Slide Factory 2007.

Masterclasses
From May 2-4 a limited number of conservatory students and professionals may apply for unique master classes with the famous French trombone soloist Michel Becquet (classical) and the “heavyweight” English jazz trombone player Mark Nightingale. There are still some places left for these masterclasses, so don’t delay if you’re interested in attending.

Slide Factory
From the first day of the festival on 3 May, you can attend a full daily program of warming up sessions, clinics, lunch concerts, an outdoor spectacle with 100 trombone players and various major concerts. At the same time there will be an extensive festival market at the Doelen where you can try out the newest models and gadgets and meet the trombone makers.

Artists and ensembles
Michel Becquet, Mark Nightingale, Wycliffe Gordon, Jiggs Whigham, Bart van Lier, Ilja Reijngoud, Jörgen van Rijen, Ben van Dijk, Jos Jansen. New Trombone Collective, Marine Band of the Royal Netherlands Navy, Rotterdam Jazz Orchestra, Les Sacqueboutiers de Toulouse, Quatuor Kimoiz.

Visit the Slide Factory ‘07 website for your application and complete information about the program, the artists, accommodations, ticket sales and more…

The International Trombone Association has cited Slide Factory ‘07 as the official European edition of the International Trombone Festival 2007.

The popular Fine Arts Brass are coaching at a UK Summer School for the first time in their 27 year history. During 19th-25th August, participants will have the unique opportunity to work with these five top professionals on the Advanced Brass Chamber Music course.

Alongside a series of masterclasses on individual instruments, FAB will be coaching ensembles using some of the unique repertoire the ensemble has commissioned over the years, which includes over 100 works by leading composers such as Michael Nyman, Tim Souster and Michael Torke.

The group will also be performing in concerts, featuring a piece written for them by composer in residence John Woolrich, plus a collaboration with Ensemble Bash to perform a new arrangement of West Side Story.

More information about fees and accommodation is available from Dartington Summer School. Bursaries are available to “gifted musicians” - well worth an application, but hurry, the deadline is 5 April 2007.

Next week will see a trombone jazz concert at the Royal Opera House’s Floral Hall. Mike Hext and Mark Nightingale will be joined by jazz trombonists from Trinity College, plus the Malcolm Edmonstone trio.

Friday 30th March 2007, 12.00 - 14.00
Floral Hall, Royal Opera House, London
Supported by The Robey Family
Free admission
Full details from the Royal Opera House.

Warwick Music have announced they are publishing a series of new music from the commissions and performances of Netherlands-based New Trombone Collective. The New Trombone Collective Series has been launched with the sizeable amount of repertoire commissioned and performed by the ensemble so far. A selection of their new works will be added annually during their three year partnership with Warwick Music.

Steven Greenall, Managing Director of Warwick Music, said,

New Trombone Collective have raised the bar for trombone ensemble playing to a new level. We have been working with them over a number of projects in recent years and it made sense to formalise this into a long-term relationship. We believe it’s the first deal of its kind between artist and publisher in the trombone world.

BTS members should make note of the BTS Annual General Meeting, to be held on Sunday 7 October at Oundle School, near Peterborough, just a few minutes off the A1 and within easy reach for both the South and North of the UK. The AGM follows the East Anglia BTS trombone day at Oundle School, which is always a fun-packed and exciting event. Please put the date in your diary, now.

Geoff Wolmark
BTS Secretary

For the second year running, Kingston University student David Horden has won the university’s Concerto Prize and will be performing solo with the wind orchestra. A student of Leslie Lake, David will be perfoming Johan de Meij’s T-bone Concerto. With movements named Rare, Medium and Well Done, David describes the piece:

it is a very melodic piece which is great fun to play and exciting for any audience

24 March 2007, 7.30pm
St John’s Church, Grove Lane, Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey
David Horden trombone
Kingston University Wind Orchestra

Dan West, post-graduate bass trombonist at the Royal Academy of Music in London, will be presenting an hour-long recital in the Duke’s Hall, next week. Performing on the bass and contrabass trombones music by Kazik, Mahler, Tomasi, Schnyder, Debussy and Woud, Dan will be joined by pianist Timothy End, the Pangaea Trombone Quartet and the RAM Brass Soloists.

Tuesday, March 13 2007, 6pm
Duke’s Hall, Royal Academy of Music, London
Recital: Dan West bass/contrabass trombone
Free, no tickets required

James Kazik Concerto (world première)
Mahler Songs of a Wayfarer
Henri Tomasi Être ou ne pas être (To Be or Not to Be)
Daniel Schnyder Sonata
Debussy Jimbo’s Lullaby
Nick Woud Serenade

More information is available on the Royal Academy of Music website.

Next week Greenwich will be filled with the sounds of brass as the Trinity College of Music holds their annual Brass Experience. Organised by Head of Brass and RPO Bass Trombonist, Roger Argente, there are plenty of concerts and masterclasses to hear during the week.

Focussing here on the trombone side of things, Trinity are hosting the trombone choir of the Royal Conservatoire of Music, Granada, Spain, and their professor Celestino Luna in a joint concert with the TCM trombones conducted by Graham Lee.

Sackbuts and cornetts will be directed by Emily White in a concert in the beautiful Old Royal Naval Chapel.

And jazz trombonists from the college will be put through their paces in a joint concert with Mark Nightingale and Mike Hext.

Full details of these and the many other brass concerts are available from Trinity College.

Leading Dutch composer Theo Verbey has been commissioned by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra to write a trombone concerto for their talented Principal Trombone Jörgen van Rijen. The performances are scheduled for 13th and 14th September 2007.

An exciting new festival featuring an international mix of brass performers will be launched in Durham this summer. BRASS - Durham International Festival 1 - 15 July 2007 has booked Boban Markovic Orchestra, Mnozil Brass, Bellowhead, Brazz Brothers and Dennis Rollins as headline acts, as well as hosting two brass band contests and Acid Brass.

Boban Markovic, described as “Serbia’s best trumpeter”, leads his 12 -piece brass group (pictured) who “always perform full power like a stadium Rock act” in their music mix of “Gypsy grooves, Èoèeks and other dances and tunes from the movies of Emir Kusturica as well as new material composed exclusively for the band.” Audio samples are available on the Eye for Talent website.

Mnozil Brass are an Austrian brass septet whose shows feature slapstick humour while they perform a mix of popular arrangements from the likes of Bohemian Rhapsody to classical favourites, to Austrian drinking songs.

Bellowhead are an English folk group based around squeezebox and vocals, but cranked up to a big band sound with four horns and drum kit. (Photo www.david-angel.com)

Brazz Brothers are a Norwegian brass quintet who play traditional jazz, modern jazz and folk music from different parts of the world. They were founded in 1981 by two sets of brothers all from a small island off Norway and since then have played up to 120 live concerts a year.

Tickets available from the official festival website, and a discussion of the acts is going on at Nick Jones’ blog.