*
banner

A century of originality at Great Northern Brass Arts Festival

From Labour & Love to Fireworks, Metropolis 1927 and Of Distant Memories will be on show at Bridgewater Hall in September.

bRIDGWATER HALL
 

Further details have been released by the organisers of the 2014 Great Northern Brass Arts Festival, which will be held at Bridgewater Hall in Manchester on Saturday 13th September.

100 years

The event will celebrate 100 years of original brass band repertoire and will feature concerts from Carlton Main Frickley Colliery, The Band of the King’s Division, The National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain, and a combined finale featuring Black Dyke, Brighouse & Rastrick and Foden’s.

Carlton Main will open the festival with at midday set that will include Elgar Howarth’s controversial 1975 British Open test piece, ‘Fireworks’, whilst at 2.15pm, The Band of The King’s Division will feature the march, ‘BB & CF’, ‘Labour & Love’ and ‘A Moorside Suite’.

Tovey returns

The 4.15pm afternoon concert will see the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain under the baton of Bramwell Tovey perform Malcolm Arnold’s ‘Fantasy for Brass Band’ and ‘Padstow Lifeboat’ as well as the audience an opportunity to hear Peter Graham’s commission, ‘Metropolis 1927’.

Of Distant Memories

The Gala Evening Concert will feature Black Dyke, Brighouse & Rastrick and Foden’s with Philip Sparke’s ‘Jubilee Overture’, ‘Tintagel’ by Denis Wright and Gilbert Vinter’s sadly neglected ‘Challenging Brass’, before rounding off with Edward Gregson’s wonderfully elegiac ‘Of Distant Memories’.

This year’s Great Northern Brass Arts Festival is sponsored by Yamaha, Besson and the Performing Right’s Society.

Carlton Main will open the festival with at midday set that will include Elgar Howarth’s controversial 1975 British Open test piece, ‘Fireworks’4BR

Tickets

Tickets are available from the Bridgewater Hall Box Office: 0844 907 9000.

Become a supporter and help make our future secure.

4barsrest continues to be a proudly independent voice. There are no paywalls to overcome to be able to enjoy what we do to keep our journalism at the heart of the brass banding world. Support us with a one-off donation or subscribe from just £2.50 per month.

Support us    


British Open

Result: 2026 Spring Festival — Grand Shield

May 3 • Milnrow claims the Grand Shield honours to return to the British Open with Hepworth joining them.


British Open

Result: 2026 Spring Festival — Senior Cup

May 2 • Kirkintilloch claims the Senior Cup honours as Rainford, Tongwynlais Temperance and East London Brass join them in the Grand Shield in 2027.


2026 Spring Festival

Result: 2026 Spring Festival — Senior Trophy

May 2 • Sandhurst Silver claims the Senior Trophy honours as Sovereign Brass, Unite Scotland Kinneil and Yorkshire Imperial are also promoted to the Senior Cup.


Fleetwood

Fleetwood back on demand

May 1 • You can enjoy all 32 performances from the recent Fleetwood Contest on demand


Regent Hall Concerts - Royal Greenwich Brass Band

Sunday 3 May • St Alfege Church. Greenwich Church Street SE10 9BJ


Regent Hall Concerts - FiveBy5 Trumpet Quintet

Tuesday 5 May • Charlton House and Gardens. Charlton Road, . London. . SE7 8RE


Regent Hall Concerts - Royal Greenwich Brass Band

Friday 8 May • Regent Hall. (The Salvation Army). 275 Oxford Street. London W1C2DJ


Wardle Anderson Brass Band - Wardle Junior Blast

Friday 8 May • Milnrow Parish Church, 16 Westward Ho, Milnrow, Rochdale OL16 3JX


Regent Brass - Woodbridge Excelsior Band and Russell Gray

Saturday 9 May • The Salvation Army (Regent Hall), Oxford Street, London W1C 2DJ


Bilton Silver Rugby Band

May 3 • The band requires an Eb bass player for our First section band conducted by Jack Fisher. . We have a varied and expanding programme of events throughout the year, including our very well attended, themed concerts.


Bilton Silver Rugby Band

May 3 • The band requires a Cornet player (Position negotiable) for our First section band conducted by Jack Fisher.. We have a varied and expanding programme of events throughout the year, including our very well attended, themed concerts.


Wellington Silver Band (Somerset)

May 2 • Bb Basses. With Colin Dance now appointed as our MD and our other Bb Bass leaving due to work commitments, we have openings for two Bb basses. We are a friendly community (4th section?) band with a variety of gigs including our own Proms in the Park.


David Hirst

MA, B.Ed (Hons), LTCL
Conductor, adjudicator and arranger


               

 © 2026 4barsrest.com Ltd