The Scottish Brass Band Association (SBBA) will present the Besson Scottish Solo and Ensemble Championships on 6th/7th February at Howden Park Centre.

Area contests

45 soloists, who will all have qualified from the five area contests, will perform in three age groups on the Saturday, with ensembles competing for the first prizes in each category of Besson student cornets.

Concert

West Lothian Schools and Co-operative FuneralCare bands will give the Saturday evening Gala Concert, with guest soloists, Roger Webster and Neil Gallie, while Sunday will see a programme of open solos and ensembles augmented by the first-ever Scottish Championships for Slow Melody and for Percussion.

The weekend’s adjudicators will be Roger Webster, Neil Gallie, Bryan Allen and Alasdair Rankine.

...we are excited about the introduction of the slow melody and percussion events on the Sunday, which we hope will attract a large entryAlan Edmond

Return

Speaking to 4BR, the SBBA’s Development Officer, Alan Edmond, commented: "Once again we are indebted to Besson and West Lothian Council for their support for the Championships, which are returning to Livingston."

Alan added: "As always, there will be a wonderful array of young soloists on display, in addition to the terrific guest soloists, but we are excited about the introduction of the slow melody and percussion events on the Sunday, which we hope will attract a large entry in addition to those competing in the Open Solos and Ensemble sections."

Further details

Further details and application forms can be downloaded from the SBBA website: www.sbba.org.uk or from SBBA Secretary Tom Allan at secretary@sbba.org.uk.