Foden's have announced that they will be conducted by Michael Bach at the British Open Championship later this year.

The Swiss conductor returns to the contest for the first time since 2015, when he made the last of his five appearances with Leyland Band.

The MD of Burgermusik Lucerne since 2009, he has enjoyed considerable success, including victory at the 2014 European Championship and multiple Swiss National and Swiss Open titles.

Huge honour

Speaking about the invitation he told 4BR: "The opportunity to return to the British Open to conduct one of the world's leading bands is a huge honour. There is also a special motivation as the finest British bands are joined by two outstanding European bands in Valaisia and Eikanger-Bjorsvik."

He added: "I'm really looking forward to working on 'A Brussels Requiem', which is a challenging and entertaining work."

He is such an exciting conducting talent with an excellent contest pedigree, and we are looking forward to welcoming him to SandbachMark Wilkinson

Exciting

In return, Mark Wilkinson added: "Due to Bramwell Tovey's busy schedule we were always aware that he would be unable to conduct the band at the major championships this year.

We are delighted to link up with Michael who is in great demand across the banding world. He is such an exciting conducting talent with an excellent contest pedigree, and we are looking forward to welcoming him to Sandbach."