The rising stars of Scherzo Brass are set to launch their new CD this Saturday at the Great Northern Brass Arts Festival at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester.

Name

The quartet has made a name for itself over the past 3 years by winning the 2007 British Open Brass Quartet Championships as well as the 2008 Philip Jones Brass Ensemble Competition.

At the start of 2009 the quartet was accepted onto the Live Music Now scheme, which only employs approximately 9 brass chamber ensembles in the country.

The group is keen to push the boundaries of the brass quartet repertoire by approaching some of today’s composers to write new or adapt existing music for brass quartetScherzo Brass

Masters

All four members of the Scherzo Brass quartet have recently completed undergraduate courses at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) and are due to continue their studies by enrolling on the newly established Masters of Chamber Music course run by the RNCM.

Following the group’s achievements, it was lucky enough to receive awards from the Musicians Benevolent Fund and the John Golland Trust to go towards recording the CD.

Boundaries

Emily Dodsworth told 4BR: "The group is keen to push the boundaries of the brass quartet repertoire by approaching some of today’s composers to write new or adapt existing music for brass quartet."

New music

Lucy Pankhurst’s 'Jigaligaliga Shine' and a specially arranged version of Andy Scott’s 'My Mountain Top' are just two of the new compositions on the CD, entitled 'Scherzo' as well as more traditional brass quartet compositions including music by Peter Graham and Denis Wright.

Scherzo Brass will be performing this Saturday in between the concerts at the Great Northern Brass Arts Festival, and 4BR will be reviewing the CD in the next few weeks.