Visitors to Cardiff’s iconic Wales Millennium Centre were treated to four hours of entertainment last weekend from over 100 of South Wales’ finest young musicians.

Appreciative audience

Its Glanfa Stage played host to the first South Wales Youth Brass Festival, in which five youth brass bands performed concerts to a large and appreciative audience.

Scores of people walking through the Centre in Cardiff Bay stayed to listen to the talented brass and percussion players.

Spellbound

BTM Next Generation kicked off the afternoon with a 50-minute set that kept them as spellbound as the players were by their conductor. Their combination of lively music (many arranged by MD Mark Hutcherson) and lush solos provided a beautiful start to the event.

Blaenavon Youth followed with a nice mix of traditional and modern that enabled them to display each section’s control of their instruments, whilst City of Cardiff M4 Beginners (who were only formed in January) showed no fear in coming to the stage with many of the youngsters demonstrating their individual skills.

Quality

West Wales representatives Burry Port Junior Band brought quality playing from every seat, and electrifying music. With conductor Geraint Thomas demanding audience participation, theirs was a programme guaranteed not to be forgotten by those who were there!

Finally, City of Cardiff M3 Youth rounded off the music marathon with a broad programme at a consistently excellent standard, including some sublime solo playing supported by a skilful ensemble.

Informative

Compère Nigel Seaman provided the informative commentary and interviewed MDs to find out more about what he termed ‘a celebration of all that’s best about youth music today … showing you what’s happening in community bands in the South Wales area.’

Nigel also informed the audience of the historic, current and future youth banding scene in South Wales, with more than a few murmurs of disapproval aired when he told proud parents of the bleak outlook facing young players with the recent announcement of funding cuts in local authorities and music support services.

All the bands have been outstanding and these youngsters have done themselves proudEvent organiser, Gareth Ritter

Vigour

Thankfully however, with the renewed vigour of bands such as the quintet that made it to Cardiff for the day, the outlook in many community bands is looking brighter.

Event organiser, City of Cardiff MD Gareth Ritter was very happy with the outcome of the day, and told 4BR: "All the bands have been outstanding and these youngsters have done themselves proud."

Right

He continued: "You can win all the contests in the world, but I’m a firm believer that if you haven’t got an event like this, then as far as I’m concerned, you’ve got nothing. I don’t think any of the bands here are well off for money, but we know we’re doing what we think is right."

Help

Thanks to the hard work and help and generosity of Ev-entz music providing percussion the event looks to have a bright future too, as Nigel added: “The talent we have here today is exceptional and we’ve got to make sure that people find out exactly what’s going on.”

Report: With thanks to Claire Bradford