The Gateway Brass Band Championships were recently held at the Ritenour High School Performing Arts Center, St. Louis in Missouri.

Hosted by the St Louis Brass Band it saw the judges evaluate own choice programmes based on technical achievement and artistic achievement.

NABBA horizon

With the NABBA National Championships on the horizon in Hunstville, Alabama in April the event gave the opportunity for bands to perform majors works, including the Championship Section set-work 'Titan's Progress'.

There were a great variety of other well know major works performed throughout the sections, including 'The Dark Side of the Moon', 'Purcell Variations', 'Journey of the Lone Wolf, 'Hollywood', Gabrieli Variations', 'Sinfonietta No.4' and 'Journey into Freedom' amongst others.

The Championship honours went to Fountain City Brass Band as they now look ahead to defending their NBBA title, with section awards going to River Brass, Fountain City Youth Brass Academy and Fort Zumwalt South Brass Choir.

Fabulous time

Writing on their Facebook page they said: "So excited for our first place finish in the Championship Section and for the Fountain City Youth Brass Academy's win in their section as well.

Huge congratulations to the Chicago Brass Band, Frontier Brass Band, and the Iowa Brass Band on some outstanding performances. Looking forward to NABBA coming up in a few weeks!!"

Results:
Championship Section:

Adjudicators: Tony Granados, Dr. John Korak, Prof James Jackson

1. Fountain City Brass Band (Joseph Parisi)
2. Chicago Brass Band (Mark Taylor)
3. Frontier Brass Band (Douglas Henderson)
4. Iowa Brass (Alexander Beamer)

Open Section:

Traditional Brass Band Instrumentation
1. River Brass (Pat Stuckemeyer)
2. Free State Brass Band (Tom Davoren)

Open Section:

Non-Traditional instrumentation
1. Fountain City Youth Brass Academy (Lee Harrelson)
2. St. Louis Academy Brass Band (Ryan Goetter/Matthew Kuebler)

Brass Choir Section:

1. Fort Zumwalt South Brass Choir (Paul Ahlemeyer)