Top 10-piece brass ensemble London Brass will be heading to Cambridge to lead a day of brass music next month. The workshops and masterclasses are open to all standards of players (Grades 1 - 8+) and will allow participants to play side-by-side with the top professionals. The day’s activities will be topped off in style with a full evening concert by London Brass.

The day follows on from previous brass days organised by Cambridgeshire Music, where have involved over 170 pupils with evening concerts featuring trumpet and trombone ensembles, tuba quartets and brass bands tutored by James Gourlay, Nick Hudson and John Miller. There have also been “endangered species” days for trombones and french horns led by David Purser and Simon De Souza.

London Brass Day
Thursday 20th March 2008
Workshops 10am - 5.00pm, Evening Concert 7.30pm
Concert tickets: £12.50 for adults, £8 for children
Workshops and concert combined ticket: £20
The workshops are for students in full-time education only

Please download the full details and application form (both are 10KB and PDF format). For concert tickets or more information, contact: Paul Rademeyer at Paul.Rademeyer@cambridgeshire.gov.uk or 01480 832857

UPDATED - new London date and programme details

During February, young brass quintet Lucerne Chamber Brass will be visiting Britain for a pair of performances in Cardiff and London. They’ve won a number of prizes since they were formed at the Musikhochschule Luzer in 1999: prizewinners in the Jan Koetsier Competition in Munich 2001 and winning ‘Best Brass Quintet’ at the Concours International Philip Jones, Guebwiler, France in 2003. Their foundation on familiar brass quintet repertoire has now led to an exploration of Swiss folk music.

Of course, Swiss folk music conjures up images of yodelling, alphorns and accordians. But the ‘Bauernmusik’, or ‘farmer’s music’ of 19th century Switzerland would have been a mix of strings, wind and brass playing marches and dances - polka, waltz, mazurkas and gallops etc.

LCB have studied the music and traditions, spent time working with instruments dating from around 1900 and the project has culminated in a CD. The music includes that found in recently discovered part-books of the Music Society of Hunwil in Canton Appenzell, dating back to 1854.

Their recitals will represent their wide repertoire, including works which were composed in association with the Academy of Music in Lucerne, with the aim of exploring and playing Swiss folk music from the 19th Century.

Programmes to include:
Rossini Finale grande
Ewald Quintet Nr. 1, op. 5
Bozza Sonatine
Bauernmusik (farmer’s music) traditional and revisited

Tuesday 26 February, 1.05pm
Old Royal Naval College Chapel, SE10, London
Recital is part of the Trinity College of Music Brass Experience 2008
Entry: free

Wed 27 February, 7.30pm
Swiss Church in London, 79 Endell Street, London WC2H 9DY
Entry: £10, concessions £6, including refreshments

Thursday 28 February 2008, 1:05pm
Weston Gallery, Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, Cardiff
Entry: £4, £2

The next generation of trombone soloists are invited to compete in the Christian Lindberg Solo Competition in Valencia this April. With the likes of Lindberg, Joe Alessi, Jörgen van Rijen and Michel Becquet on the panel and €6000 and a raft of concerto appearances on the cards, it is certainly attracting a great deal of prestige.

Jury: Christian Lindberg, chairman, Joe Alessi, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Jörgen van Rijen, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Michel Becquet, soloist and professor at the Lyon Conservatory, Salvatore Tarraso, Valencia Symphony Orchestra, Ferrer Ferran, composer, Justo Romero, dramaturg at the Valencia Opera House, Daniel Perpina, Bilbao Symphony Orchestra.

The winner will receive €6000, a brand new Christian Lindberg Conn 88HCL trombone, three solo concerts in the Valencia region, plus subscription series solo concerts with the Nordic Chamber Orchestra and the Swedish Wind Ensemble.

Competition: 2-5 April 2008

Competition solo repertoire:
Lindberg: Joe Jack Binglebandit
L. Mozart: Concerto
Tomasi: Concerto
Ferrer Ferran (final): Concerto for Trombone and Wind Orchestra

To register for the competition, write to: M Dolores Rivera (mdrivera@riveramusica.com).
Full information on Christian Lindberg’s website.

Brett Baker is looking forward to his first solo recital of 2008 to close this season’s Hawth Brass Festival in Crawley on 16 March 2008 at 3.00pm.

He will play pieces from his most recent CD The World of the Trombone, produced by Polyphonic Reproductions in 2007, as well as pieces from his previous release with piano in 2004 called Meditation. He will appear with Fenella Haworth-Smith who accompanied Brett on both solo recordings.

This is the first time I have played as a soloist at the festival as opposed to playing at the festival with Black Dyke Band and I am pleased to be able to feature pieces from my new CD.

Brett will feature several new compositions at the festival including Rob Wiffin’s Shout, composed especially for Brett’s most recent CD, Andy Duncan’s A Witches Spell, an accompanied solo, Martin Ellerby’s Chaconne, and Ballade and Spanish Dance, composed by Bruce Fraser. More established compositions from the trombone repertoire will include Cavatine by Saint Saëns, Elegie by Sergei Rachmaninov and the first movement from Launy Grøndahl’s Concerto. Lighter pieces in the program include Don Lusher’s Suite for Trombone, Arthur Pryor’s Annie Laurie and Rimmer’s The Hailstorm.

UPDATED: Ticket offer - see below

The principal brass players of the London Philharmonic Orchestra are getting together as a brass quintet next week in a performance at the Wigmore Hall. Their programme includes a couple of arrangements of Clarke and Albeniz alongside some well-known repertoire from Arnold and Horovitz.

Friday 15 February 2008, 7:30pm
Wigmore Hall, London

Paul Beniston; Anne McAneney (trumpet)
Richard Bissill (horn)
Mark Templeton (trombone)
Lee Tsarmaklis (tuba)

Clarke arr. Archibald Suite in D
Henry VIII Rose without a Thorn
Arnold Brass Quintet
Albeniz arr. Bissill España
Horovitz Music Hall Suite

Tickets £12 - £24
Quote ‘Brass’ Offer for best available seats for £14 - a reduction of up to £10!
LPO Box Office: 020 7840 4242
(Mon-Fri 10am-5pm or until 2pm on the day of the performance)
All offers subject to availability. Cannot be combined with any other offer or used
against tickets already brought.Concert details

Next month the Britten Sinfonia is touring a programme predominantly for brass. The programme features original brass chamber music from the 16th and 17th centuries by Holborne and Locke, as well as a brand new Concertino by Polish composer Pawel Lukaszewski. The finale is Janacek’s Capriccio, written for piano (left hand only) and a wind/brass septet.

A capricious, quirky piece, blending folk-like tunes and Romantic melodies within a 20th-century harmonic framework.

Concerts take place in Krakow, Cambridge, London, Norwich and Birmingham, March 9-18th 2008.

Michael Cox flute
Paul Archibald, Tom Rainer trumpet
Simon Gunton, Aidan Chamberlain, Andrew Waddicor trombone
Christopher Gomersall tenor tuba
Huw Watkins piano

Holborne Music for Brass
Oliver Knussen Masks
Pawel Lukaszewski Concertino (world première tour)
Locke For His Majesty’s Sagbutts and Cornetts
Janácek Capriccio

Full information

Kevin Holdgate’s car was broken into during the night of 31 January/1 February 2008 and two trombones were stolen. He asks if BTS members could please be vigilant, should they see these instruments for sale anywhere.

• Yamaha 630 Model Gold Bell, evidence of a repaired crease in a blue and yellow GIG bag.
• King 3B Concert Model with gold inlay on bell, similar to Silversonic, in original King “coffin” case.
• Custom mutes similar to Peter Gane mutes, but with white rather than plain wood bottom.

If you have any information, which could lead to the recovery of these items, please contact Richard Walker (richard.walker@ntlworld.com).