The first ever University Brass Band Championship of Great Britain, to be held at Lancaster University on Saturday 19th February has been awarded funding from the Arts Council England.

Hosts

The University of Lancaster Music Society (ULMS) in association with the British Federation of Brass Bands is hosting the contest.

The competition has been devised and organised by Lancaster students and will bring together over 300 students from 13 higher education institutions, including the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, York, Warwick, Birmingham, Cardiff, Bangor, Southampton, Keele, Huddersfield, Brass United (the Royal Northern College of Music and the University of Manchester) and Lancaster.

We will have ample funding for the competition to take place this year and nextULMS President, Max Stannard

25 minute programme

Each band will perform a 25 minute programme in front of adjudicators Alan Fernie and Richard Evans, with awards for Best March, Best Solo and Most Entertaining Performance, in addition to the usual placings.

Annual event

The President of ULMS, Max Stannard said the National Lottery funding from Arts Council England will help ensure this becomes an annual contest.

He told 4BR: "We will have ample funding for the competition to take place this year and next.

It also means that on the Sunday following the contest we can hold workshops in which professional conductors, such as Richard Evans, Mike Fowles and Philip Harper will work with participating bands. We have also allocated funding to commission a new piece for the 2012 contest."

Pleased

Terry Luddington, Liason Officer for BFBB, added: "The BFBB are extremely pleased to be involved in UniBrass and we are assisting the ULMS team with some core funding and access to expert advice and guidance."

He added that the event will be what he termed, ‘a major new National Brass Band Championships’.

Details

Beginning at 9:30am and concluding at 6.00pm, there will be day passes available on the door for £5 (children under 12 are FREE), or they can be purchased in advance from We Got Tickets.

More information regarding the event can be found on the championship’s website – http://www.unibrass.webs.com