Filton Concert Brass will host a Christmas concert of Festive Favourites for all the family, featuring the Trinity Academy Excel Band and BBC Radio Bristol's Lucy Tegg! The concert takes place on Saturday 4th December 2021 at Trinity Academy Bristol, Romney Avenue, Lockleaze. Doors open at 4.30pm for a 5pm concert. Complementary refreshments will be provided at the interval, and opportunities to buy Filton's CDs 'Tales of the West Country' and 'Christmas with Filton Concert Brass'. There will be a raffle full of festive surprises! Book your tickets via Eventbrite or purchase them on the door. Seats will be unreserved, but please consider sitting in family groupings, practicing social distancing, and wearing a face covering. There is limited parking at the venue and on-street parking is available. The band look forward to seeing you at the concert to begin the Christmas season!
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Filton Concert Brass will host a Festival of Remembrance concert featuring the Bristol Military Wives Choir and Royal British Legion to remember those who have fallen.
Book your tickets via Eventbrite or phone 07757 744 116. The band will perform their entertainments programme as well as wartime music, and the concert will feature the Last Post ceremony with a Royal British Legion standard bearer. The concert takes place on Saturday 13th November 2021 at St Michael's Centre, Stoke Gifford, Bristol. Doors open at 6.30pm for a 7pm concert. In the interval, there will be refreshments available for a donation, and opportunities to donate to the Royal British Legion and buy Filton's CDs 'Tales of the West Country' and 'Christmas with Filton Concert Brass'. Donations to the band are also gratefully received. Book your tickets via Eventbrite (www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/remembrance-with-filton-concert-brass-bristol-military-wives-choir-tickets-190499999627) or phone 07757 744 116. Tickets will also be available to purchase on the door. Seats will be unreserved, but please consider sitting in family groupings, practising social distancing, and wearing a face mask. Please note that there is limited parking at the venue but on-street parking is available and there are nearby car parks: Meade Park Car Park (1 minute drive, 10 minute walk) and Stoke Gifford Car Park (4 minute drive, 12 minute walk). Filton Concert Brass is recruiting for the following positions:
Filton rehearse on Mondays and Wednesdays 8pm to 10pm at Easton Salvation Army hall, Bristol. The band is led by Resident Musical Director Daniel Hall, BMus (Hons), who is also an award-winning Composer and Arranger, and professional Musical Director Erik van de Kolk, a highly respected Dutch Conductor who won the European Conductors Contest in 2011. Interested? Contact filtonconcertbrass@gmail.com or ring 07901 622 122 in confidence or for more information. Filton Concert Brass is Bristol's Championship Section brass band, and can be heard regularly performing in a diverse range of annual engagements including competitions and concerts. In 2017, the band qualified for the National Brass Band Championship Finals, performing at London's Royal Albert Hall alongside some of the most revered names in the brass band world. The band's entertainment ability has also been much acclaimed, winning the Welsh Open Entertainment title in 2016, followed by a hat-trick of wins in 2018, 2019, and 2020, also claiming the Wychavon Festival of Brass title along the way in 2018. To find out more about our recent performances and activities, please visit our news page, or click here to discover more information about Filton Concert Brass. If you would like to hear the band in action, check out our listen & watch page.
The YTLArena is planned to open in early 2023 and will be a fantastic music venue for the city of Bristol. The Arena wanted to promote “local high end musical organisations” and has partnered with Filton Concert Brass to build a mutually beneficial relationship for the future and for Bristol.
Barry Scott, our Strategic Fundraising Officer and bass trombone player, did a Q&A session “Backstage with Filton Concert Brass” with YTLArena, talking about what has contributed to Filton Concert Brass’ success, to lockdown Zoom-performances, to mental health. Read more here. Filton Concert Brass are looking forward to working with YTLArena to showcase innovative concerts, youth development, ad-hoc rehearsal facilities, plus more. The partnership is at its embryonic stage but we are very excited and grateful for the partnership, knowing that the band and the Bristol community can really benefit in the future.
The evening was filled with anecdotes, which brought to life a man many banders have only seen before at a distance on stage, conducting the world famous Black Dyke Band. Kevin Darby, Filton's Principal Cornet player said of the event:
It was a privilege to share a fascinating and up close and personal evening on Zoom with Nick Childs. On a personal level, it was great for Cath and I to catch up with him and remember shared experiences. Nick also shared stories from his early playing days with Tredegar Band under his father’s guidance and his first conducting experiences, and the highlights of his long and successful career with Black Dyke. Interspersed with audio clips and rounded off by an inspiring question and answer session, it was an insightful reminder of what we have all been missing during lockdown and why Nick is regarded as a living legend in brass band circles. The evening finished on a positive note; banding, Nick Childs said, is something we will all be proud to go back to and will all enjoy together again.
We are very proud of our horn player Samantha Ford and Euphonium players Anthony Smith and Thomas Dunne for their awards at the GBBA Virtual Festival - a solo and ensemble contest held online in December 2020. The contest was adjudicated by Dr Brett Baker. The results were released on New Years Day and heralded our 1st Horn, Samantha, and Principal Euphonium, Anthony, who won first and second prizes in the Open Slow Melody class. Samantha and Thomas received first prize for their duet in the Open Ensemble class, which was up against duets, a quintet, a sextet, and band ensembles. Thomas was also awarded second prize for his performance in the Air Varie and Technical Solo class. The showcase of performances will be premiered in the coming weeks.
We want to congratulate all prize winners in the contest and to all those who entered, and to thank the GBBA for running the solo and ensemble contest online. A very good start to 2021!
Filton Concert Brass have launched their shop, where you can purchase the latest CDs by Filton Concert Brass and/or donate to the band. The shop launches in time for Christmas, and the CDs on offer make perfect stocking-fillers or as a soundtrack to decorating the tree! In 2018 the band released their debut CD recording, in collaboration with guest trombone soloist Brett Baker. Entitled Tales from the West Country. In 2019, the band released their debut Christmas album with festive favourites, Christmas with Filton Concert Brass. You can also donate to the band. "All of us at Filton Concert Brass are deeply grateful for your support!" To purchase individual copies or get a discount when you buy them in combo, please visit the shop.
A massive congratulations to our fabulous Principal Euphonium player Anthony R Smith for winning the Over 18s Slow Melody category of the Foden's Band Solo and Ensemble Contest! Check out his superb performance of Tom Davoren's 'A Simple Gift'.
"The Foden's Solo Contest was originally launched in 2010 and has grown to become the largest event of its kind in the UK. Due to Covid, the band's 10th-anniversary event was moved online. Seventy entries were received across four different categories being viewed over 140,000 times on the band's Facebook page. Due to the number of entries the band used six of its members to shortlist each section to five finalists. Each finalist has been recorded 'live' with a band member present on Zoom to ensure that only one take was recorded. The various videos have been forwarded to the panel of adjudicators comprising Michael Fowles, Mark Wilkinson, Jonny Bates, Gary Curtin, John Barber, and Mark Landon who have been joined by Bramwell Tovey, Simone Rebello, Russell Gray, and David Childs. A panel member gave an overview of each section before the results are announced at the end of the programme. Due to the extremely high standard of performance, the adjudicating panel has had a difficult task in choosing the various prize winners." The stream commenced at 7pm on Friday 30th October with the broadcast being hosted by Iwan Fox. View the contest on catch up below. During the lockdown, Filton Concert Brass have kept banding going by inviting guest speakers for masterclasses on playing, adjudicating, and musical interpretation for Filton players and friends. On 15th July, the band and guests enjoyed a fantastic masterclass session with Martin Britt, who led us through a session entitled 'taking the noise out of brass playing', discussing putting the fundamentals of brass playing in place, and offering advice on tackling performance anxiety. Thank you Martin for such an engaging session, and to all who attended! On 30th July, the band and friends were delighted to welcome euphonium virtuoso Glenn Van Looy, who delivered an incredibly useful masterclass on getting our playing back into shape after some time off. Glenn was supposed to be conducting the band at the Senior Cup contest this year, which was unfortunately cancelled, so it was great for everyone to catch up! On 6th August, it was a pleasure to welcome Mike Fowles to our virtual bandroom, who delivered a fascinating masterclass on 'Taking the mystery out of adjudication'. Mike revealed in great detail the process of contest adjudicating, providing invaluable advice on how to prepare for a contest! Thank you Mike for a really enjoyable evening. |