We had another fantastic response from people around the banding world to the annual 4BR Christmas Quiz brought to you with the support of Besson Musical Instruments and Band Supplies.

Lots of people got all 30 questions correct — but quite a few got more than one or two wrong.

The winner picked out of the hat was Lizzie Findlay, a percussionist with Sandhurst Silver Band, who is donating the Prodige cornet worth over £600 to the Sandhurst 'Brasshoppers' Training Band.

Next generation

She told 4BR: "Thanks 4BR — and what a great surprise! It was a really enjoyable quiz, although it did take some working out.

I'm so glad we took the time though as the cornet will go to a great organisation led by conductor Ian Dewhurst who is inspiring the next generation of youngsters to enjoy brass banding. I'm sure one lucky player is going to have a fantastic New Year present."

Fantastic prize

Conductor Ian Dewhurst added: "Brasshoppers has really bounced back after the challenges of Covid. We started back with just two players, but now we have 25 with more wanting to join.

Getting our hands on instruments is such a challenge, so this is such a fantastic prize to win. It will go to great use, and our thanks go to 4BR, Band Supplies and Besson for the quiz and prize, and especially to Lizzie for her amazing brass band knowledge!"

Answers:

1. Which major test piece this year recalled the incredible story of Antonie de Saint-Exupery and Andre Prevot?

Answer: Sand and Stars by Thierry Deleruyelle

2. A solo entitled 'Lament for Lost Tomorrows' played by Arfon Owen of Stavanger Band at the Siddis Entertainment Championship this year was unique for what reason?

Answer: It was created through the use of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithm

3. Which King's trumpets were 'discovered' alongside 5398 other "wonderful things"when his tomb was opened 100 years ago this year — and around 3,300 years after they were perhaps last played?

Answer: King Tutankhamun — the tomb was found in 1922 with the trumpets found in February 1923 when the ante chambers were cleared

4. Which actor played the fictional orchestral conductor Lydia Tár on film?

Answer: Cate Blanchett

5. Is this...(image)

Answer: The inside of a 250 year old violin

6. 'Lip Transplant' by Derek Bourgeois, 'A Matter of Seconds' by Gilbert Vinter and 'A Comedy of Errors' by Cyril Jenkins are better known as what at the National Championships of Great Britain?

Answer: All had their original name changed for use at the contest

7. What 'first' was presented at the Royal Albert Hall National Finals in 1980 and hasn't changed since?

Answer: The current first prize of £2,000

8. What job is undertaken by a Souffler in French Opera Houses, or a Rammentatore in Italian ones?

Answer: A prompter

9. Which Peter Graham major test-piece takes its inspiration from a dystopian Fritz Lang film that has been interpreted as a Marxist/Leninist critique of the corrosive underbelly of the inter-war German Weimer Republic — as well as featuring a famous female 'Maschinenmensch' robot?
Answer: Metropolis 1927

10. Nicholas Childs (four times), Russell Gray, Allan Withington (twice) and Garry Cutt are the only conductors to have won which National title?

Answer: English National Championships

11. Name the composer and the artist and at which contest venue will you find them?

Answer: Igor Stravinsky and Freddie Mercury — found in and near the Montreux Music & Convention Centre

12. Conductor Dennis Masters celebrated his 100th birthday in March 2023. In which year did he lead the Langley Band to the Second Section National Championships of Great Britain title?

Answer: 1957

13. Which brass instrument was played by former Formula 1 World Champion racing driver James Hunt, actor Samuel L Jackson, football pundit Jimmy Hill and King Charles III?

Answer: Trumpet

14. Which composer wrote a piece called 'Skittle Alley Trio'?

Answer: Mozart

15. Name the conductor (below) you pass as you walk upstairs at the main entrance at the Royal Albert Hall?

Answer: Sir Malcolm Sargent

16. Which famous conductor died at the age of 72 in New York in 1990 and was buried at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn with a pocket score of Mahler's 'Fifth Symphony', a piece of amber, a lucky penny, a copy of Alice in Wonderland, and a baton in his casket?

Answer: Leonard Bernstein

17. True or false. Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon in 1969 was also a baritone player?

Answer: True — the instrument is on display at the Museum of Flight in Seattle

18. Which composer has been played in films by actors Gary Oldman (1995) and Ed Harris (2006) and on the famous American 'Saturday Night Live' comedy television show by John Belushi?

Answer: Beethoven

19. Which composer wrote the 'Beano Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra' which was premiered by the BBC Concert Orchestra and soloist Colin Currie earlier this year at the Southbank Centre in London?

Answer: Gavin Higgins

20. What was the 'Miracle' that gave Haydn's 'Symphony No 96' its name?

Answer: A large chandelier fell from the ceiling during the performance but didn't hurt anyone

21. Which is the only regional (Area) championship event that Prof Nicholas Childs has never conducted at?

Answer: London & Southern Counties

22. How many pedals does a concert harp have?

Answer: Seven

23. Which George Lloyd test piece was commissioned by a brewery, and whose company name also describes its initial thematic motif cleverly used in the work itself?

Answer: Diversions on a Bass Theme

24. What occurrence is believed to have happened for the very first time in UK banding history at the Leicestershire Brass Band Association Contest in Loughborough in November this year?

Answer: The three podium prizes were won by bands directed by female conductors

25. At which European contest city was this marching band found in May this year?

Answer: Malmo

26. What musical instrument is referred to in German orchestral scores as Becken or Tschinellen, in Italian scores as Piatti or Cinelli and in Spanish scores as Platillos?

Answer: Cymbals

27. What does the musical term lasciare suonare mean?

Answer: Let ring

28. Which two Russian revolutions does Shostakovich commemorate in his 11th and 12th symphonies?

Answer: 1905 and 1917

29. Who was this incredible polymath musician (image) who passed away aged 96 in February 2023?

Answer: Geoffrey Brand

30. What were number 1 in Yorkshire and Wales, number 5 in the North of England, number 7 in Scotland and London & Southern Counties, number 9 in the Midlands and the North West and number 11 in West of England this year?

Answer: The draw numbers of the winning bands in the Championship Section contests.