Kenneth Downie's 'Handel in the Band' will be the set-work that will test the Championship Division bands at the 37th Netherlands National Championships in Utrecht later this year.

Sarabande

The work, based on the composer's famous 'Sarabande', with a witty passing reference to Percy Grainger's 'Handel in the Strand', was originally commissioned by Brass Band Treize Etoiles in Switzerland as their own-choice work for the 2013 National Championships, and recently enjoyed a timely reprise as a featured major composition at the 2017 RNCM Brass Band Festival.

Two new premieres

The First Section contenders will have to perform Jan van der Roost's imposing work 'Stonehenge', with the Second Division bands playing Stephen Bulla's, 'Frontier Vision'.

Meanwhile, two exciting new works will be premiered in the Third and Fourth Divisions, with Van de hand van Pimpanit Karoonyavanich's 'A Journey to the Bermuda Triangle' and 'Purcellian Fantasia' by Jan de Haan.

Judges

The adjudication teams for the weekend of the 27th/28th October at the TivoliVredenburg Auditorium, venue for the 2018 European Championships, are Garry Cutt, Jan Van der Roost and Florent Didier (Championship and First Division) and David Thornton, John Doyle and Dirk Launtenbach (Second, Third and Fourth Division).