The Geneva Group has welcomed Phillip McCann to the company as a Development Consultant & Performance Artist.

Distinctive

The former principal cornet of Black Dyke Mills Band is known throughout the world for having perhaps the most distinctive sound of any cornet player, with his band, solo performances and recordings achieving global critical and artistic acclaim.

He has also gained widespread respect as an educator, tutor, conductor and adjudicator, with him being accorded the honour of an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Huddersfield in 2019 in recognition of his services to music and education.

A recipient of both the Iles and Mortimer Medals is recognition to his services to youth banding and the brass band movement he now acts as a consultant for bands throughout the world.

Pleasure

Geneva Group General Manager Brett Baker told 4BR: "It's been an absolute pleasure working with Phillip these past few months on a project to be revealed in the near future.

He is not only a fantastic player and outstanding musician, but also extremely knowledgeable with instrument development. Having Phillip join Geneva signals yet another exciting development for the company and reinforces our credentials at the forefront of the uncompromising pursuit of excellence.

We are sure players around the world will be eager to find out more about Phillip's terrific developmental work and how this will align with the Geneva Group."

Creative passion

In response, Phillip added: "I'm proud to be involved with the Geneva Group and would like to thank Tim Oldroyd for allowing me the opportunity to fulfil my creative passion, which has in it turn enabled me to offer the best choice possible to cornet players.

Geneva has kindly invited me to collaborate and contribute my expertise and experience towards developing this exciting challenge."

The single most important aspect of playing any instrument is sound. This has always been my philosophy in both playing and teaching...Phillip McCann

Sound

He added: "I want people to love their instruments — in particular their cornets. Above all though, my passion is to provide the greatest choice for our instrumentalists within the brass band movement.

The single most important aspect of playing any instrument is sound. This has always been my philosophy in both playing and teaching and to do this players need an instrument that will allow them to project their personality through the sound they create.

This is the goal for Geneva and myself, so make sure you keep an eye out for further exciting news in the near future."