Derwent Brass is to work in artistic collaboration with Russell Watson, one of the UK's best-selling classical music singers.

His albums such as 'The Voice' and 'Encore' have achieved worldwide critical as well as popular acclaim — the latter selling over 2 million copies.

He has also won four Classical Brit Awards and performed at opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games, the Queen's Coronation Gala Festival, Rugby Union World Cup and Champion's League Final.

Innovative partnership

The collaboration further enhances the band's reputation for seeking innovative partnerships, with Band Manager, Chris Leonard telling 4BR: "This will be the first time we have worked with a classical artist who enjoys such a worldwide profile. We hope it will be a huge success and show how versatile brass bands can be."

Derwent Brass has previously performed with a variety of non-brass artists including British Sea Power, The Swingle Singers, Denise Leigh, The Joe Tatton Trio, Joe Stilgoe and Jason Manford — leading them to be presented with the 2022 Brass Band England's Award for Innovation. They recently won the 2023 Making Music Green Award.

The event is scheduled for March next year as part of Russell Watson's 'Magnificent Building a Concert' series.