"Enthusiastic young brass players" commended at Competition

On Sunday, we held our annual Brass prize. The day consisted of a combination of ensemble workshops and masterclasses run by Tony Howe, a trombonist who plays with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

To begin, all our brass students met and worked together in quartets and quintets to learn a new piece which was performed after just one hour and fifteen minutes practice. The results were fantastic, prizes were given for different qualities.

The prize winners were as follows:

Chamber performer- Hugo L (I, III)

Musical awareness- Barnaby W (R, III)

Leadership- Edward P (R, UVI)

Outstanding performer- Shawn L (S, III)

The masterclass featured eight of our top brass musicians, Tony was engaging and informative, focusing on different aspects of technique with each student. We had a range of instrumentalists participating on trumpet, trombone, French horn and trombones.

The overall soloist prize went very deservingly to Sam H (I, UVI).

Tony was really impressed with the level of all our brass students and gave some lovely feedback from the day:

“Pass on my appreciation for all their effort today, for their impressively collegiate approach to working together, for their excellent engagement with the demands of the ensemble and solo sections, and for the high standard of their playing and music-making.

“It was an absolute pleasure to hear and see so many talented and enthusiastic young brass players.”

Katy Landon

Head of Wind, Brass & Percussion