The Malcolm Arnold Fantasies Competition, initiated by The Wallace Collection, has announced the line-up of four outstanding brass musicians selected to contribute to a unique recording project as well as perform at the forthcoming Malcolm Arnold Festival on 15th October.

Audition tour

The audition panel included John Wallace and Tony George of The Wallace Collection, and after completing an audition tour which took place at four venues across the UK (Royal Academy of Music, Royal Welsh Academy of Music and Drama, Royal Northern College of Music and Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), the winners have now been selected.

Michael Gibbs (Horn)
Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama

Illiam Quaine (Trumpet)
Royal Northern College of Music

Benny Vernon (Trombone)
Royal Academy of Music

Stuart Beard (Tuba)
Royal Academy of Music

Extra award

In addition to selecting the four players, further recognition was given to the best performance across all the auditions, which was awarded to, Stuart Beard (Tuba), studying at Royal Academy of Music

As part of this additional award, Stuart will also appear as a guest soloist with The National Youth Brass Bands of Scotland in summer 2016.

CD recording

The recording project brings together Arnold's works for brass, to create a CD — Arnold for Brass which will be released under The Wallace Collection/Nimbus Alliance label at the Malcolm Arnold Festival in October, marking the 10th anniversary of Sir Malcolm's death.

As a significant reappraisal of the life's work of Malcolm Arnold, the recording will incorporate performances from The Wallace Collection, The National Youth Brass Band of Scotland (which originally commissioned 'Little Suite for Brass No 1' in 1963), RCS Brass and the four winners of the Fantasies Competition — who will record the Fantasies for Horn, Trumpet, Trombone and Tuba and in so doing pay tribute to the rejuvenation of these works through their rediscovery of these works at the outset of their careers.

Great credit

John Wallace stated: "Every participant was a great credit to their respective institutions. The competition across the UK was intense and the final decisions were far from easy, requiring great deliberation between us both.

We were genuinely very impressed by the high standards we found throughout the auditions, and from our privileged position of being able to see these talented players in action at all the venues, we feel that the UK's potential future for brass playing is so very bright."

Every participant was a great credit to their respective institutions. The competition across the UK was intense and the final decisions were far from easy, requiring great deliberation between us bothJohn Wallace

Support

He added: "We are extremely grateful for the support of all the hosting venues, institutions and personnel who have enabled this part of our Malcolm Arnold project to become a reality.

We also offer our thanks to The Malcolm Arnold Trust for its enthusiasm for our initiative, helping us to integrate the project into the forthcoming Malcolm Arnold Festival."