Youth and education to shine at 2017 Brass in Concert Festival

Youth and Education will be integral to the 41st Brass in Concert Festival on 18 and 19 November, when the popular Workshops will be led by Cory MD, Philip Harper, and a team of tutors from Cory Band. Laura Jackson will lead the Elementary Group - this year expected to attract more students than ever, courtesy of partnerships with Music Partnership North (Northumberland), North Tyneside Music Services and Sage Gateshead’s Creative Learning Team.

The Workshops will be followed by a 2.30pm free public concert on the Sage Concourse and said Brass in Concert Chairman, John Woods: “The Workshop performance is always one of the highlights of our weekend, but through new partnerships with various agencies in the north-east, we expect

this year’s to be more spectacular than ever and urge prospective participants to register as soon as possible. Works performed this year will be by Gordon Langford, who sadly passed away recently and whose music was very prominent in the early years of Brass in Concert, including his much-loved arrangement of CuCushy Butterfield and Bobby Shaftoe, the set test-pieces in 1978 and ’79 respectively.”

The annual Brass in Concert Taster Sessions, which encourage the public to ‘have a blow’ on a brass instrument, will also take place on The Sage Concourse from 11.00am-1.15pm during the first day and, prior to the Workshop Concert, Wardle Academy Youth Band will present its 2017 winning Action Medical Research Entertainment programme at 1.30pm, also on the Concourse.

Saturday’s Focus on Youth and Education is supported by Yamaha and Natasha Homer, Sales and Marketing, Band and Orchestral Classic Division, commented: “We are delighted yet again to support the Youth and Education programme at the Brass in Concert Festival. Yamaha and Brass in Concert have enjoyed a very fruitful relationship over many years, and we look forward to working again with the organising team, and the many enthusiastic musicians of all ages and experience who will be involved in this year’s event.”

For Workshop application forms, email Hugh Stephenson at hughastephenson@hotmail.com or log onto the Brass in Concert website - www.brassinconcert.com/event/workshops-and-tasters. Registration for the workshops commences at 8.45am on 18 November and the £5.00 cost includes a packed lunch.

Tickets for World of Brass in Concert on Saturday 18 November, featuring Brass and Voices at the Movies with Cory Band and Only Men Aloud (priced £27.00, £18.00 and £10.00), and the main Championship on 19 November (£30.00, £22.00 and £12.00), are available at: www.sagegateshead.com or telephone 0191 443 4661.

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