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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 [email protected] 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. 
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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.
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.
He was also invited to conduct several brass bands in the North East, including Fishburn and North Skelton, notably winning 7 contests in the last 2 years. From September, Lewis will be undertaking a Master’s Degree in conducting at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama under the guidance of Dr Robert Childs. Commenting on his appointment, Lewis stated “I’m really looking forward to starting work with such a well organised and forward thinking band. Hopefully this will be the start of a very successful partnership.”
in the top 6 at contests, to enter and progress through the British Open Spring Festival, and get the band to the Royal Albert Hall – objectives that seemed almost impossible at the time.
Now, the record speaks for itself - out of Tom’s 22 contests with the band, 18 of those have seen the band in the top 6 places, 14 in the top 3, and 8 victories! Some of many highlights include winning consecutive First Section regionals in 2013 and 2014, becoming First Section National Champions in 2014 and being promoted to the Championship Section for the first time, winning the British Open Senior Trophy in 2016 and the Senior Cup in 2017, qualifying for the National Finals in 2017 and performing at the Royal Albert Hall for the first time, and competing in the British Open Grand Shield for the first time in 2018. Aside from contesting, Tom has led the band through our first foreign tour - performing the Gala Concert at the Lithuanian National Championships in Palanga in 2018, and our first CD recording – with ‘Tales from the West Country’ being released in 2018. Most importantly however, Tom has helped form the band into a close-knit circle of friends who thoroughly enjoy music making together, and strive for musical excellence at the highest level. Tom says: “I don’t have the words to describe what everyone who has passed through this band means to me. It’s been a constant in my life of true happiness… thank you for the wonderful gift and know that I’ll never experience anything quite like this again”. In our band curry this week, we presented Tom with a framed photo of him conducting the band at the Royal Albert Hall atop a list of his contest achievements with the band – a true testament to his success. We also presented him with a ‘Filton Concert Brass’ beanie hat (though if there ever was anyone that didn’t need something to keep their head warm..!). Tom, from all of us here at Filton, past and present, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all you have done for us – the music, the contests, the concerts, friendship, and many, many laughs! We wish you all the best in your new adventure, and are sure we’ll meet again soon! Over the coming days/weeks we will be sharing some of our highlights together – so keep an eye out! |
