EBBC Jury Panels Announced
The European Brass Band Association has announced the adjudicators for the European Brass Band Championships, the European Conductors Competition and the European Youth Brass Band Contest to be held as part of the European Brass Band Festival 2025, Stavanger, Norway, 4 May - 11 May.
After the European Youth Brass Band have assembled on the first weekend of the event, the competitive element of the championships begins with the first round of the European Conductors Competition on the Sunday morning. Twelve candidates will arrive Stavanger for the first round, and each will work with the Sola Brass Band. Selecting the six semi-finalists from this pool will be Isabelle Ruf Weber (Switzerland) and Allan Withington (Norway), both highly respected conductors and educators.
The semi-final of the Conductors’ Competition takes place on Tuesday evening, again judged by Isabelle and joined by EBBA Music Commission member, Benjamin Haemhouts, a renowned orchestral and opera conductor from Belgium. The semi-finalists have an opportunity to work with the professional sinfonietta, Insimul. On Thursday evening, is the final of the European Conductors Competition where the three finalists will conduct the Stavanger Brass Band in performances of three major original works for brass band, judged by the esteemed panel of Allan Withington, Russell Gray (Scotland) and Michael Bach (Switzerland). There is also an audience prize in the final, so be there if you want to influence the results.
To judge the Championship Set Test, the highly talented trio of Isabelle Ruf Weber, Bert van Thienen (Belgium) and Corsin Tuor (Switzerland) will be in the box. Each juror will bring a unique perspective to the panel will have a very clear picture of how excellence should sound on the demanding set-test. For the Challenge Section on the Saturday morning, we see Bert van Thienen and Allan Withington. Later, on the Saturday, a highly experienced judging team of Frode Amundsen (Norway), Michael Bach and Jan de Haan (The Netherlands) will make the important decisions on the fearsome task of judging the Championship Own Choice. Making the important decisions in the Youth Competitions on the Sunday see the return of Russell Gray, Jan de Haan, Corsin Tuor, joined by Stavanger local, Arfon Owen (Norway).
Chair of the EBBA Music Commission, Chris King, commented: “The Music Commission is delighted that we have been able to secure the services of such an impressive, and musically diverse, body of jury members for the Festival in Stavanger. They bring many years of experience as performers, conductors and jurors to the events.”
European Conductors Competition
Isabelle Ruf Weber
Allan Withington
Ben Haemhouts
Russell Gray
Michael Bach
Championship – Set Test
Isabelle Ruf Weber
Bert van Thienen
Corsin Tuor
Championship – Own Choice
Frode Amundsen
Michael Bach
Jan de Haan
Challenge Section
Bert van Thienen
Allan Withington
European Youth Brass Band Contest - Development section
Arfon Owen
Corsin Tuor
European Youth Brass Band Contest - Premier section
Russell Gray
Jan de Haan
