Black Dyke euphonium star, David Thornton will present no less than four world premieres at this weekend’s RNCM 'Festival of Brass' in Manchester.

Concerto

The opening concert this evening with Black Dyke will see David premiere Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen’s 'Concerto for Euphonium and Brass Band'.

David told 4BR: "The commission started at this festival two years ago, when I asked Torstein if he’d be interested in writing something and now it’s incredibly exciting to be at the business end of the process, with the premiere this weekend."

The piece is demanding for the soloist and band, and also I hope, extremely exciting for the audienceDavid Thornton

Demanding

He added: "The piece is demanding for the soloist and band, and also I hope, extremely exciting for the audience. It involves some extended techniques, multiphonics and breath attacks alongside some very passionate writing for the instrument."

Euph and quintet

Meanwhile, on Sunday, David will be performing three new pieces for euphonium and brass quintet, in a 'Solo Spotlight' sponsored by York Instruments.

Exciting talents

Accompanied by the Groves Brass Quintet, the three works are from the exciting young talents of Simon Dobson, Lucy Pankhurst and Cai Isfryn. The recital is held in the RNCM Opera Theatre at 1.45pm.

Dobson

Simon Dobson has written 'In Memoriam E.S.' inspired by the music of Esbjorn Svensson, a Swedish Jazz musician and founder of E.S.T. who died in a scuba diving accident in 2008.

David explained more about the piece: "The euphonium soloist and quintet perform over the top of a 'drum and bass' dance track — a combination which takes the innovative mind of someone like Simon Dobson to mould into a really beautiful piece of music. It really takes the listener by surprise on the first hearing!"

Pankhurst

David is equally excited about a new work from 4BR 'Newcomer of the Year', Lucy Pankhurst too: "Lucy has written a very descriptive piece, telling the story of Tiamat. The title hails the name of a five headed dragon, from the fantasy role-playing adventure game 'Dungeons & Dragons'.

"The brass quintet represents the five heads and the soloist is the heroic dragon slayer! It’s a real musical battle with me cutting each head off one by one!"

Isfryn

Cai Isfryn provides the finale to the recital with 'Blizzard'. Cai is a former cornet player with Black Dyke and will also be performing with the Groves Brass Quintet.

Cai told 4BR: "It’s a great experience writing for my own group and for a soloist like David. I’ve tried to test us all technically and musically with a tour de force for euphonium and quintet telling the story of a great Blizzard, high winds and treacherous conditions."