NYBBW 40th Summer Celebrations

The National Youth Brass Band of Wales celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. To mark this milestone in its history the band will perform a trio of concerts, under the direction of Philip Harper. They will begin in Bangor on Thursday 4th August, before travelling to Fishguard on Friday 5th and concluding in Llandaff Cathedral, Cardiff on Saturday 6th August. 

The young musicians of the NYBBW will meet for their Summer residential course to prepare a demanding programme including two of the genre’s most iconic pieces nestled in a broad programme of brass brand repertoire and a new commission by Ian Stephens.

Percy Fletcher’s landmark of musical sophistication and expression, ‘An Epic Symphony’, was used as the test piece for the Championship Section of the National Championships of 1926 (he composed the first original test-piece for brass band in 1913). In tribute to those early test-pieces and their composers is NYBWW Founder Conductor Edward Gregson’s ‘Of Distant Memories’. It pays homage to the musical languages, styles and forms used by early test composers like Percy Fletcher, in one continuous movement until the triumphant coda. 

Commissioned by NYAW and Philip Harper in 2020, Ian Stephens’s ‘Colston Falls’ was inspired by one of the most enduring scenes of lockdown: the toppling of Edward Colston’s statue in Bristol. The piece is framed by a tutti morse code rendition of the date of the protest, 07/06/2020, and features a chant of “bring it down, bring it down” on flugel, horns, baritones and timpani. Other featured pieces include works by Liz Lane such as ‘Diamond Fanfare’ and ‘Slate, Sea and Sky’ as well as ‘Orient Express’ by Philip Sparke. Tickets are priced at £12 (under-26s £5, concessions available) and are available using the links below:  

Pontio Theatre
Bangor
Thursday 4th August
7.30pm

https://www.pontio.co.uk/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=22Brass&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::context_id= 

Fishguard International Music Festival
St David's Cathedral
Friday 5th August
7.30pm

https://www.fishguardmusicfestival.com/nybbw 

Llandaff Cathedral
Saturday 6th August
7.30pm

https://bookings.nyaw.org.uk/sales/enwhats-oncydigwyddiadau/060822/enticketscytocynnau?theme=NYAW

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