Brass stars Steven Mead, Les Neish, Kristy Rowe and German euphonium player Markus Mikusch were recently in Eischtatt, Germany, giving a weekend workshop and taking part in a concert with the top German band, BB 3BA.

Culture growing

The brass band culture in Germany is growing with a total of around 27 brass bands in existence, compared to less than 10 a decade ago.

With the help of sponsors Besson Musical instruments, the players were certainly kept busy, as Steven Mead told 4BR: "3BA is a fine band, under the leadership of Franz Matysiak. They are blessed with fine players, and they all share the brass band bug. There wasn’t a single moment’s rest!"

The weekend began on the Friday evening where Steven linked up with the low brass players working on several technical areas, as well as rehearsing repertoire by Bruckner, Mozart and modern day brass composer too.

First tenor horn

Meanwhile, Saturday saw a full day of workshops and masterclasses attended by over 50 musicians including 18 euphoniums and the first bespoke German tenor horn player!

Les, Kristy and Steve led the rehearsals and tuition before there was a break to get together and perform in a massed ensemble rehearsing film music scores as well as Malcolm Arnold’s classic 'Little Suite for Brass’ No.1.'

The audience rewarded the performances with a prolonged ovation and it’s hoped the impetus given to the brass band movement in this part of Germany will have lasting benefitSteven Mead

Rapid progress

Steve added: "Progress was rapid and following the second division into groups, the final ‘play-throughs’ were really impressive.

Time was also given for a masterclass element where five of the delegates volunteered to play solos in front of everyone, with Steve, Les and Kristy adding their expert words of wisdom. All day there was a great atmosphere and very positive reaction."

The rehearsal of solos for the concert, took place on Sunday, with the beautiful autumn weather adding to the occasion.

Impressed

Steve was particularly impressed by the contribution of Markus Mikusch. "Markus joined us on the Sunday morning and was a revelation, whilst the day also marked the last appearance for a little while in Europe of Kristy Rowe before she returned to Australia. It was also her birthday, so it was a happy and slightly sad occasion too. Everyone will miss her."

Kristy also appeared as a featured soloist in the Sunday afternoon concert, playing ‘Peace’ and ‘Pequena Czardas’, which were extremely well received by the audience, whilst Markus was in top form with his rendition of Philip Sparke’s ‘Harlequin’.

Flabbergasting form

Les Neish was on his usual flabbergasting form with Monti’s ‘Czardas’, whilst Steve kept the flag flying with his contributions of ‘Pilatus’ in tribute to Goff Richards, and ‘Napoli’, complete with the Winton Marsalis cadenzas!

To round the day off Steve and Les teamed up for a whip through ‘Carnival of Venice’ whilst the quartet of stars joined forces to close proceedings with ‘Londonderry Air’, with Kristy taking the solo line.

Rewards

Steve was delighted with the whole event. "The audience rewarded the performances with a prolonged ovation and it’s hoped the impetus given to the brass band movement in this part of Germany will have lasting benefit," he added.