This Sunday, the sweet sounds of early brass will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in a special programme celebrating 25 years of His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts.

The British group which is a regular at the BBC Proms, has over a dozen CD releases and regular tours throughout Europe and beyond is being featured on the Early Music Show. The programme is mainly comprised of music from a concert of music by Giovanni Battista Grillo and Giovanni Gabrieli at the Spitalfields Festival, London in the summer, strung together with chats between Catherine Bott, Jamie Savan and Jeremy West.

BBC Radio 3
Sunday 2nd November, 1pm-2pm (GMT)

His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts:
Faye Newton soprano; Nicholas Mulroy tenor; Eamon Dougan baritone
Jamie Savan, Jeremy West and Bruce Dickey cornetts
Adam Woolf, Abigail Newman, Philip Dale, Andrew Harwood-White and Stephen Saunders sackbutts

Anybody listening from abroad, or who wants catch up with the programme later, should be able to listen on the internet for up to a week following the broadcast by following this link: www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/earlymusicshow/

Onyx Brass have announced a brand new summer school hosted in the fantastic facilities of Eton School. OnyxBrass at Eton is designed to give brass players aged 18 and over “an intensive 5-day workout in the major areas of expertise required to be a professional musician in the twenty first century.”

Individuals or established groups will be encouraged to apply and benefit from the specialist tuition of not only one of the world’s foremost brass chamber groups but also, some of London’s most distinguished orchestral musicians. This is a complete course set in the beautiful and well-equipped surroundings of Eton College where full board and accommodation will be offered. Classes provided will be in chamber music, orchestral repertoire and solo playing. The college’s fantastic sporting and recreational facilities will be available to all musicians on the course.

Onyx Brass is a brass quintet, founded 15 years ago by ex-National Youth Orchestra players and now performs recitals across the world, radio broadcasts, has a recording contract with Chandos and gives regular masterclasses in conservatoires in the UK and beyond. The ensemble has a particular interest in contemporary music, with their first two CDs explored serious works by living composers, and regular concerts with the the John Armitage Memorial Trust of new works by British composers. The ensemble’s members are principal players in symphony and chamber orchestras in the UK.

For full information on the course, see: onyxbrassateton.com

There is still time to enter the BTS trombone quartet contest held at Salford University on the 9th December.

After receiving a pleasing quota of interests from quartets around the country, we are giving ensembles a further week to show their interest in the contest.

The day will start at 11am in the Peel Hall campus of Salford University and will end at 3pm. The day will include the quartet contest and a masterclass given by leading trombonists such as Brett Baker and John Barber, based in the North West.

The deadline for applications is Friday 7th November. Please forward your interest to Gareth Westwood at garethwestwood@hotmail.com

There will also be the opportunity to be an audience member at the competition and masterclass. Tickets to the event are £5 for BTS members. Ticket prices for non-BTS members will be slightly higher.

Richard Brown will be giving a solo recital at Durham University this December as part of their lunchtime concert series. Richard is well known from his regular concert and contest appearances with Grimethorpe Colliery band and also from his professional orchestral appearances, most recently with the Hallé Orchestra and the BBC Philharmonic.

Thursday 11th December 2008, 1.10pm
Durham University Music Department, Palace Green, Durham, UK
All are welcome
Tickets £5
Richard will present a fusion of early and modern music for trombone.

For more information, contact Ray Farr: ray.farr@durham.ac.uk

Paul Archibald will be leading the London Mozart Players Brass Quintet in a short tour of Lincolnshire. Their visit to North Cotes, Sutton-on-Sea and Spilsby will feature programmes including the Arnold Quintet and Poulenc’s Sonata for Horn, Trumpet and Trombone.

LMP Brass Quintet, Lincolnshire Tour (UK)
11 Nov - St Nicholas’s Church, North Cotes, 7.30pm
12 Nov - Methodist Church, Sutton-on-Sea, 7.30pm
13 Nov - Spilsby Theatre, Spilsby, 7.30pm

Paul Archibald, Peter Wright trumpet
Christopher Newport horn
Ian White trombone
Nick Etheridge tuba
Full details at LMP website

TUBE - The Unusual Brass Ensemble - is travelling to Fulham in a couple of weeks to perform an interesting a programme of contemporary classical and jazz, featuring composers like Graham Fitkin, John Cheetham and Steve Reich.

Sunday 09 November 2008 at 19:30
St John’s Church, Fulham, London

James Maynard Fanfare
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov Dance of the Tumblers from the ‘Snow Maiden’
Graham Fitkin Trevor
John Cheetham Brass Menagerie
Steve Reich Music for Pieces of Wood
Jazz selection

The Unusual Brass Ensemble - a brass quintet based in Cambridge, give a concert of more serious and more silly music.

Bass trombonist Jonathan Warburton will be performing the UK premiere of Canticles by Johan de Meij next month. The solo feature will take place in a light programme given by the BBC Elstree Concert Band at St. James Piccadilly, London. The piece was written for Ben van Dijk for last year’s Slide Factory in Rotterdam.

Saturday 8th November 2008, 7.45pm
St. James Piccadilly, London

BBC Elstree Concert Band
Andrew Morley Musical Director
Jonathan Warburton Bass Trombone
Keith Clement presenter

Includes UK premiere performance of “Canticles”, by Johan de Meij.

Full information at St James Piccadilly

If you wanted to browse the score of a Beethoven or Brahms symphony, until now you probably had to visit a specialist music shop or one of those rare things, a music library.

This is no longer the case, following the opening of the IMSLP / Petrucci Music Library, which has 21,000 musical scores for free download. So whether you want to follow Mahler’s score of his stormy 5th Symphony (Peters, 1904), check our the tricky bits of Mozart Requiem (Breitkopf & Härtel edition, EU only) or see the score of a Bach Cantata to play along in the chorales, you can download the scores at no cost.

Although not completely comprehensive, they’ve got the complete symphonies of Brahms, Bruckner, Dvorak, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saens, Schumann, plenty of Berlioz, Borodin and complete editions of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert. The opera repertoire is mainly represented by vocal scores, but plenty of full scores are there too.

Of particular interest to trombonists is the complete solo part and piano reduction for Rimsky Korsakov’s Trombone Concerto.

As many people realise, copyright laws allow composers and publishers to profit from their works for only a limited period. Under UK law, a publication is protected until 70 years after the death of the composer, and a new engraving provides is protected for 25 years, but this leaves plenty of the original publications available. Due to differences in laws between Canada (where this site is based), US, UK and EU, some titles are illegal to download in some regions, and the website is generally clear which, if any, regions do not consider a work to be in the public domain.

The fledgling website was originally closed due to complaints from large musical publishers. However, this summer the site reopened, having received legal support from the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic to ascertain its legality.

Congratulations to 13 year old Haley M O’Connelley from Durham who is the winner of the BTS National Competition for Young Trombonists 2008.

Haley triumphed in the final at the BTS trombone day in Oundle, Northamptonshire this Sunday. Judges Mark Templeton, Bob Hughes and composer of the test piece Bruce Fraser spoke of the high standard of all three finalists, who had been selected from 25 taped entries of students up to the age of 16 from across the country.

The runners up were Charlie Osborn from Purley and Andrew Savill from Taunton, who impressed many. Bob Hughes said that with high standard and large distances travelled by the finalists it proved that the competition had been hotly contested and truly national.

After a talk from Bruce Fraser about the Greek-inspired piece Hellas, specially written for this competition, each contestant played the test-piece and one of their own choice. Charlie picked Smoke Gets in my Eyes, Haley followed with Panis Angelicus, and Andrew finished with Guilmant’s Morceau Symphonique.

As winner, Haley took part in a masterclass given by Mark Templeton during the day, and will receive a trombone lesson from an eminent British trombonist of her choice.

The Lions Club run annual music competitions across Europe, and this year is the turn of the trombone. The voluntary service organisation is organising and funding this competition for trombonists up to the age of 22 in a celebration of young talent and to promote healthy competition.

There are set to be local heats in each of the 13 Lions districts across UK and Ireland around Dec 08 - Feb 09. The winners will be invited to the National Final at the Birmingham Conservatoire in April 2009 and the National winner will be provided with all the expenses to attend the European final in Finland in September 2009.

The test piece for the National final is Bozza’s Ballade and entrants choose another piece from a repertoire list. The National judging panel is set to include internationally recognised trombonists.

If you are interested in entering, please contact UK & Ireland organiser Eric Roberts beric@tesco.net with your name and address and he will put you in touch with a local Lions Clubs and information about the local heats. If you are a student away from home, please provide your home address. Please get in touch ASAP since heats are happening soon.

Lions European Music Competition 2008/09

• Entry restrictions: resident in UK/Ireland for 3 years, age up to 22 years old
• Nominations to National Final by (local) district Lions Club by 28th February 2009, following local heat.
• National final: Birmingham Conservatoire, 4th April 2009. Candidates play Bozza Ballade and another piece from the repertoire list provided. Entrants sponsored by their local Lions Club.
• European final: Tampere, Finland, 17-19th September 2009. At this stage, all expenses are provided by UK/Ireland Lions.
• Prizes: Local - Variable prizes
• National - 1st £500, 2nd £200
• European - 1st. €3,500, 2nd €2,000, 3rd €1,000