The players of the National Youth Brass Band of New Zealand have been put through their paces this week by MD Tyme Marsters and assistant conductor Philip Jonston on their annual course in Christchurch.

Arabian Nights

They have also been joined by their featured soloist, tuba star Nic Scott from Wellington Brass to work on demanding repertoire including the former British Open test-piece, 'Arabian Nights: Fantasy on Rimsky Korsakov's Scheherazade for Brass, and 'Te Wa Heke Mai: The Future', a commission written for the 2023 band course by former member, Dale Vail.

Speaking about the progress being made, Tyme told 4BR: "The course has started with a bang — straight into 'Arabian Nights' and one of our other major pieces, 'Festive Dance' from 'Mindia'.

Phil and I have been putting the band through their paces with 14 hours of rehearsals over the first two days, including working with our amazing soloist, Nic Scott. The band has turned up well prepared and I'm really impressed with how the programme is coming together."

Fantastic

He added: "It's been fantastic to welcome back the young players who have been in the band in previous years, as well as the new members.

I'm confident the band will continue to work hard over the next few days, and we are all looking forward to taking the band on tour to showcase this group of talented young musicians."

The final concert in Christchurch will be live-streamed.

Tour dates:

Thursday 19th January
NBS Theatre in Westport (7.00pm)

Friday 20th January
ASB Marlborough Theatre in Blenheim (7.00pm)

Saturday 21st January
Ngaio Marsh Theatre in Christchurch (4.00pm)