Success for the Inaugural Gateway British Brass Band Festival
In a tightly contested event using NABBA’s newly devised scoring philosophy and system, the Chicago Brass Band under the direction of Music Director Colin Holman, emerged victorious at the inaugural Gateway British Brass Band Festival held in St. Louis, Missouri on November 2, 2019.
Drawn Fourth in order of play, Chicago earned a score of 92.333 with a program that included: ‘Mephistopheles’ by Shipley Douglas, ‘Share My Yoke’ by Joy Webb and arranged by Ivor Bosanko, ‘Mango Walk’ arranged by Howard Snell, and ‘Chain’ by Piet Swerts. Placing second at the event was the Eastern Iowa Brass Band, Music Director Alexander Beamer, scoring a 92.167 and in third place, the Dublin Silver Band, Music Director Tim Jameson, scoring 91.313.
The St. Louis Brass Band founded this new festival based on their philosophy of promoting excellence in both music performance and education. In addition to the competition, on Friday evening judges presented brass pedagogy workshops and the St. Louis Brass Band performed repertoire featuring renowned French horn artist JD Shaw. Rounding out the experience were clinics for the open section bands following their performance.
The Festival proved to be a huge success with the winning MD, Colin Holman stating the event was, “A brilliantly run brass band festival which inspired creative programming.” NABBA President Tony Granados was also very positive with his comments: “NABBA is really excited to see the formation of this new brass band event with the Gateway Festival. Many thanks to Dr. John Bell and the St. Louis Brass Band for creating this opportunity for brass bands to get together and perform and improve.”
Results:
1. Chicago Brass Band – Colin Holman (92.333)
2. Eastern Iowa Brass Band – Alexander Beamer (92.167)
3. Dublin Silver Band – Tim Jameson (91.313)
4. Arkansas Musicworks Brass Band – William Ratcliff (84.000)
5. The East Central University Brass Band – Dr Jace Vickers (78.333)
6. St. Louis Youth Brass Band (69.500)
7. Fort Zumwalt High School Brass – Paul Ahlemeyer (70.500)
Outstanding section awards:
Cornets – Dublin Silver
Tenor horns & Flugelhorn – Arkansas Musicworks
Baritones & Euphoniums – Dublin Silver
Trombones (tie) – Dublin Silver and Chicago
Tubas – Chicago
Percussion – Chicago
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