NEW EDITION OUT NOW!
The latest edition of Brass Band World and BBW Digital is out, and packed with news, views, opinions and reviews that add up to essential reading.
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IN THIS MONTH'S EDITION...
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NEWS: NYBBGB LAUNCHES CONDUCTORS COMPETITION
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THE BBW INTERVIEW
Established as one of the most sought-after trumpet players on the international stage, Sergei Nakariakov is gifted with a rare combination of stunning virtuosity and a suave velvet-toned sound. This month, David Childs meets the Israeli-Russian musician and provides an insight to his life, career and collaborations.
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VIEW FROM THE BOX
Four of the 12 adjudicators for the forthcoming Section 1 – 4 British National Finals - Alan Morrison, David Hirst, Alan Bourne and John Maines - provide helpful tips and advice for bands preparing Edward Gregson’s Connotations, Thierry Deleruyelle’s Lions of Legends, Philip Sparke's Kaleidoscope and Dan Price's An Elgar Portrait.
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ENSEMBLE SPOTLIGHT: THE MOSAIC SUM OF A4
A4 Brass Quartet comprises principal players from some of the UK’s top brass bands, including Black Dyke, Brighouse and Rastrick, and Foden’s. Amidst the release of the quartet’s latest CD, 'Mosaic', David Childs catches-up with its star tenor horn player and regular BBW contributor, Jonathan Bates, together with his A4 colleagues: Jamie Smith, Mike Cavanagh and Chris Robertson.
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LET'S DEBATE
Following month’s article about preserving and celebrating individual national sounds and traditions, Dr. Nathan Miller, Asbury University’s Assistant Professor of Musicology and Horn, and Director of Orchestra and Chamber Music, in Kentucky, USA, contextualises his nation’s brass band heritage, advocating for distinct, but connected traditions.
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CREATIVE CONNECTIONS
This month's Pro Platform features Dr. Liz Lane, Grimethorpe Colliery Band's recently appointed Composer-in-Association. Christopher Thomas chats to the multi-faceted composer and educator, who is carving her name into the annals of innovative, cross-genre brass band repertoire.
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BBW CENTRE BAND: UGANDA'S MBALE SCHOOLS BAND
Mbale Schools Band entered the mainstream competitive banding psyche when it contended the Youth Section of the 2021 Foden’s Whit Friday Band Contest. Philip Monk lends insight into his creation and development of the Ugandan band, which holds pertinent lessons in how to become Pied Pipers of young beginner brass band players!
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CORY'S 'MR. DEPENDABLE'
Cory’s Phill Harris has notched up over 40 years with the Rhondda-based band from Wales, but recently decided to hang up his cornet and retire from banding. Phill’s back row colleague for a decade, Lisa Fitzgerald-Lombard, caught up with him to chat about his incredible, memorable career.
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A TOUCH OF KLAAS
The remarkable 35-year musical partnership between Klaas van der Woude and Brass Band De Bazuin Oenkerk has come to an end. Gerard Klaucke, of CU Brass, pays tribute to the highly-respected Musical Director who has enjoyed one of the longest and most successful conducting tenures in Dutch banding.
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POSTCARD FROM AMERICA
British ex-pat, Andrew Wainwright, now settled in Dallas with his family, brings the first of a new BBW series, in which he kicks-off with developments from around US band rooms and an interview with the highly respected Keith Wilkinson, who led GUS and William Davis construction bands in the UK, and now leads the Brass Band of the Western Reserve in Cleveland, USA.
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BANDING SPIRIT
Helen Williams brings exemplary, heart-warming stories about the contributions that innovative and determined brass band organisations from New Zealand, England and Northern Ireland brought to the well-being of local communities, which in one instance even impressed Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
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NZ CHAMPIONSHIPS RETURN
The 2021 New Zealand National Brass Band Championships became the first major contest worldwide to emerge successfully from the global pandemic when its five-day event recently took place last month. Christopher Turner brings all the action from this most memorable Festival of Brass.
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THE NEW 'BRASS PACK'
It's time to swing with the Mike Lovatt Brass Pack! Smith-Watkins trumpet artist, Mike Lovatt, has just realised a sensational setting of Bizet's Carmen from an iconic 1950s Billy May album as a virtual performance project by his new 'Brass Pack' – Nicola Bland enjoys a Q&A with the star player about his lockdown creative success.
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EDUCATION: UNIVERSITY OF HUDDERSFIELD OUT FRONT!
Placed 27th in the 2021 QS World University Rankings, making it the leading institution outside London and Oxbridge, there are more reasons than ever to consider studying music and, specifically, brass band performance at the University of Huddersfield, whose online and on campus Open Days are scheduled for Autumn 2021 and January 2022.
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PRO PRACTICE
The unspoken rules revealed! With the new academic year approaching, BBW’s Pro-Practice host, Dr. Robert Childs, invites Dr. Stacie Mickens – professional musician and Associate Professor of Horn at the University of North Texas College of Music – to share an invaluable refresher on etiquette for student musicians.
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BBW CASTAWAY
Composer, publisher and BBW contributor, Andrew Wainwright, can’t escape the heat as he swaps Texas for the equally warm climes of BBW’s virtual desert island, armed with his eclectic selection of favourite works from Beethoven to Brahms and Mahler to Marsalis, a book and a luxury item that could, with a little innovation, double as a raft!
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WHEN DREAMS COME TRUE
The childhood dreams of instrument and mouthpiece designer/maker, Antonio Rapacciulo, were fulfilled when Sergei Nakariakov chose to become one of his artists, collaborating on a signature trumpet and mouthpiece range for AR Resonance – Nicola Bland brings the heart-warming story of when a trumpet maker met his icon!
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AND ANOTHER THING
BBW’s resident wit and cartoonist, Rob Nesbitt – ‘Nezzy’ to his friends – ponders the question: What motivates players to be in a brass band and stay?
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PLUS THE LATEST REVIEWS...
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The on-demand audio and video streaming platform, wobplay, launches an exciting Concert Series, Christopher Thomas discovers A4 Brass Quartet’s ‘Mosaic’, Thomas Dunne is left in awe of Sergei Nakarikov’s ‘No Limit’, Ken Waterworth explores the latest instalment of Hallelujah Choruses, Volume 28, published by Trade Central, USA Central Territory, and Helen Williams is impressed by three models of Alliance flugel horn mouthpieces. Malcolm Wood also savours the latest brass band festivals – Whitburn Online and IBB Media Ltd.’s Best of Brass, Thomas Dunne enjoys the inaugural performance of Mike Lovatt’s Brass Pack, and Bolsover International Brass Band Summer School celebrates its success.
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