Once again in 2024 there were plenty of outstanding individual as well as ensemble performances to enjoy throughout the banding world.
The demands of modern solo and test-pieces may well highlight great technical virtuosity, but sometimes it is the little moments of melodic lyricism that makes the hair on your neck stand on end.
These for us were the performers that combined both on the contest and concert stage, the recital and the recording platforms. There was something about the style and the character of the way in which they performed that set them apart this year in their work.
As always, the criteria for selection is simple: It's not just who we think are the best conductors and players, but those we believe have made a lasting impression with their playing in 2024.
There were plenty of established performers on the very top of their game, but even more encouraging was the emergence of a new generation of players imbued with musicality.
Criteria
As always, the criteria for selection is simple: It's not just who we think are the best conductors and players, but those we believe have made a lasting impression with their playing in 2024.
And as always, we could have made up two or three bands, and this year a new generation of players have certainly staked their claim for inclusion (members of the sections are in alphabetical order).
The 4BR Editor makes the final decision, and although we are sure not everyone will agree with the choices, it’s a formidable line up for any concert appearance if we could get them all together for one night.
Conductors:
Paul Holland and Frederic Theodoloz
Arguably the top two conductors in the banding world in 2024.
Both excelled in leading their respective bands on the contest stage – notably against each other at the British Open, but also elsewhere.
Theodoloz also led Treize Etoiles in a stunning appearance at the RNCM International Brass Band Festival, whilst Holland took his baton further afield to work impressively with the likes of Tertnes and Schoonhoven.
Cornets:
Principal Cornet: Luke Barker (Flowers)
Henrik Anundsen (Krohnengen)
Lewis Barton (Leyland/NYBBGB)
Kevin Hickman (Sydney City Brass/North Shore Brass)
Mathilde Roh (Brass Band Treize Etoiles)
Tom Smith (Brighouse & Rastrick)
Lode Violet (Brass Band Willebroek)
Dennis Vork (Brass Band Schoonhoven)
Roger Webster (Oldham Band (Lees)/Brighouse & Rastrick)
A new generation of outstanding cornet players is at last starting to make their mark on the banding movement, although the familiar faces once again showed that age has not wearied their talent.
Luke Barker (above) enjoyed a superb year leading with such maturity and musicianship from the end chair with Flowers. His performances stood out in a band playing at the very highest level.
Lewis Barton wowed brass band and classical music critics with his performances with Leyland and the NYBBGB, and Mathilde Roh excelled again as the lynchpin of Treize Etoiles. Another young principal cornet who caught the ear in 2024 was Henrik Rydland Anundsen with Krohnengen – classy and consistent.
A new generation of outstanding cornet players is at last starting to make their mark on the banding movement, although the familiar faces once again showed that age has not wearied their talent.
Tom Smith has evolved into a superb principal cornet with Brighouse & Rastrick, whilst Lode Violet stamped his class once more with his contributions to Willebroek’s performances on stage and in the recording studio.
Denis Vork at Brass Band Schoonhoven thankfully delayed his ‘retirement’ to showcase his qualities there and on his travels, whilst Kevin Hickman did the same in the southern hemisphere, claiming the Australian Solo Championship and coming runner-up in the New Zealand Champion of Champions.
Roger Webster provided a swan song (or so he said) of breathtaking brilliance from Blackpool to Palanga and in stealing the show at Brass in Concert.
Soprano:
Paul Richards (Flowers)
There were a host of superb soprano players on show throughout the banding world this year, but Paul Richards was the pick for us. He was simply exceptional; the purity of his tonality backed by cast iron technique and the musical intelligence to employ it all in the right place and not just when the spotlight fell on him.
There wasn’t an audience that wasn’t left spellbound. Becoming ‘4BR Player of the Year’ was an endorsement of his class in 2024.
Flugel:
Phoebe Mallinson (City of Bradford/Black Dyke Band/NYBBGB)
Like the soprano, it is very difficult to pick just one player to fill the flugel seat, but this young performer may well come to reserve the place on quite a few occasions in the years to come if she continues to develop as she has done in the past year.
The move to Queensbury certainly didn’t faze her and her performances with the NYBBGB in high profile events were also outstanding.
Horns:
Mike Ford (NBS Nelson City Brass)
Tim De Maeseneer (Brass Band Willebroek)
Sheona White (freelance)
A trio of the most experienced, wonderfully gifted and ever explorative tenor horn performers in the banding world.
Mike Ford became New Zealand ‘Champion of Champions’ soloist of the second time, 22 years after his other title success.
Not only that (on what was his 22nd appearance in the ‘Blue Riband’ final) he also won the Open Duet title, was part of the winning Nelson City Brass ensemble and was the ‘Best Soloist’ on the set-test in the A Grade National Championship contest in south Auckland.
A trio of the most experienced, wonderfully gifted and ever explorative tenor horn performers in the banding world.
2025 will be a very important showcase year for Tim De Maeseneer, but all the groundwork for his major solo recording and performance project was done in the past 12 months.
This saw him undertake recordings of specially commissioned works by Edward Gregson, Jan Van Der Roost, Philip Wilby, Thierry Deleruyelle and Bert Appermont amongst others as well as continue his work at the LUCA School of Arts and at the Royal Danish Conservatoire in Copenhagen.
The long-awaited return of Sheona White to the recording studio was marked by not one but two releases of the highest quality in 2024. ‘The Beauty Within’ and ‘New Music for Eb Tenor Horn and String Orchestra’ showcased new solo avenues. whilst her performances at the RNCM International Brass Band Festival and as the voice of ‘Keli’ in Martin Green’s visceral ‘Split the Air’ production brought acclaim from critics within outside the banding movement.
Baritones:
Mike Cavanagh (Black Dyke)
Erlend Oian (Eikanger Bjorsvik)
Two performers who offered such complementary displays of the baritone art in 2024.
Mike Cavanagh once again reminded us of just how effective and wonderfully manipulated the instrument can in solo mode – from his superb concerto performance at the RNCM International Brass Band Festival as well as on multiple concert and contest stages throughout the year.
Erlend Oian meanwhile provided the essential bridge between the middle and low brass of Eikanger – both subtle and bravura. Even in works of pyrotechnic flash and wizardry, his refinement was never lost.
Euphoniums:
Daniel Thomas (Flowers)
Glenn Van Looy (Valaisia)
Something of an annual unenviable task this given the quality of performers we are lucky to hear just about week in week out, but these former ’Band of the Year’ members once again reminded us of just what makes then that extra special.
The move from Cory to Flowers reinvigorated Daniel Thomas, giving Paul Holland’s band an extra cutting edge of virtuosic brilliance.
Something of an annual unenviable task this given the quality of performers we are lucky to hear just about week in week out, but these former ’Band of the Year’ members once again reminded us of just what makes then that extra special.
The eye-popping ability to wow was certainly on display this year in solo mode but it was as a prize-winning leader with the Flowers ensemble that gained an extra level of maturity.
Glenn Van Looy was imperious as a soloist and as a band performer. As a soloist he continued to push the boundaries and scope of the instrument, as a teacher he continued to inspire and as a band performer he simply took the breath away at the Swiss Open and again at the Swiss Nationals.
Trombones:
Lionel Fumeaux (Brass Band Treize Etoiles)
Vidar Nordli (Eikanger Bjorsvik)
Aileen Orr (Tongwynlais Temperance/NYBBS)
Three wonderful performers - each different in their outlook and experience, but all a delight to listen to in 2024.
Lionel Fumeaux once again lived up to every expectation that followed him to the RNCM International Brass Band Festival in Manchester in January, as he delivered a quite staggering ‘Fly or Die’ solo performance on bass trombone with Treize Etoiles. Back in the alto ranks he was on sublime form on the contest stage too.
Three wonderful performers - each different in their outlook and experience, but all a delight to listen to in 2024.
Vidar Nordli produced performances of rare viscosity in being the lead disciple of Eikanger’s fictional ‘Jesus in Tibet’ extravaganzas in Bergen and Palanga but also shone in everything else he did in the orchestral and brass band spheres.
RWCM&D student Aileen Orr is certainly making her mark as a player, not just in the banding world with her own band at Tongwynlais, the Royal Welsh College and others, but also in a wider sphere too with the likes of English National Ballet, Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra and the World Youth Orchestra.
Add to that her desire to conduct, adjudicate and write and you have a seriously impressive young musician.
Tubas:
Auriane Michel (Valaisia Brass Band)
Jean Xhonneux (Brass Band Willebroek)
Chris Collings (Wellington Brass)
Philippe Rapalli (Brass Band Treize Etoiles)
The foundation stones on which any successful performance was built in 2024 – these were the players who headed sections that added rich, inky depth as well as subtle textures to go with the heft.
Their colleagues all share in the accolade, as these were leaders of fantastic tuba teams.
Percussion:
Anthony Mann (Foden’s)
Victoria Alverez (NYBBGB)
Jack Littlewood (NYBBGB)
Jos Mulkens (Altena Brass)
David van der Zalm (Altena Brass)
Jurgen Klein (Altena Brass)
A six player percussion team that has all the talents to hit, smash, caress, bonk, tickle and amaze us all on just about every instrument under the sun.
Anthony Mann of Foden’s will be the person in charge after he once again showed his all-round qualities from Enigmas to Muhammad Ali this year, whilst the trio from Altena Brass (above) were the best perc team we heard on ‘The Lost Circle’ all year.
The two youngsters from the NYBBGB were the leading lights in a brilliant section of players who were asked a lot and deliver it all in spades on their courses and concerts this year.
Previous Years:
2023 Band of the Year: https://www.4barsrest.com/articles/2023/2038.asp
2022 Band of the Year: https://www.4barsrest.com/articles/2022/1991.asp
2021 Band of the Year: https://www.4barsrest.com/articles/2021/1949.asp
2020 No Band of the Year
2019 Band of the Year: https://www.4barsrest.com/articles/2019/1845.asp
2018 Band of the Year: https://www.4barsrest.com/news/35237/4br-2018-band-of-the-year
2017 Band of the Year: https://www.4barsrest.com/articles/2017/1681.asp
2016 Band of the Year: https://www.4barsrest.com/articles/2016/1593.asp
2015 Band of the Year: https://www.4barsrest.com/articles/2015/art1538.asp
