Sara Maganzini, who has worked as a Band Assistant for the Royal Gibraltar Regiment recently won the annual Brass Band Conductors Association Conducting Competition.

The event held at Halifax Minster saw ten semi-finalists travel from as far afield as Canada, Belgium, the USA and Switzerland to work with Hammonds Band on either Elgar Howarth's 'In Memoriam RK' or Thea Musgrave's 'Variations' to earn their place in the final.

Finalists

After a strenuous examination under the watchful gaze of judges Katrina Marzella and Eduardo Portal, Sara was joined Jan Mueller, Brecht Schepers, Edward Mylechreest and Uilson Castro to conduct a classic film piece in the evening's Gala Concert with Elland Silver Band.

There, Sara's precise, expressive conducting of Goff Richard's arrangement of 'Let's Face the Music and Dance' saw here take the honours from runner-up Brecht Schepers and third placed Edward Mylechreest.

Experience

Sara has gained extensive conducting experience having studied at the Conservatorio Claudio Monteverdi Bolzano, the Koninklijk Conservatorium Den Haag and the Hogeschool Zuyd Maastricht. She also conducted Andover Town Band at the West of England Area Championships in 2024.

Sara was presented with the Roy Newsome Conductors Shield, a £200 cash prize and a year's free membership of BBCA. She has also been invited to work with Russell Gray in Foden's preparation for this year's National Championship of Great Britain and their pre-Nationals concert appearance at Regent Hall.

This flagship competition is a very rewarding day for the BBCA and we hope to continue to provide such opportunities to many more conductorsBBCA Chairperson, James Holt

Skill and musicality

Speaking about the competition, BBCA Chairperson, James Holt said: "This has been a fantastic event with entrants of an extremely high calibre.

Our conductors showed great skill and musicality and I'm sure they will go on to build on their performances and the feedback they've received from our adjudicators. This flagship competition is a very rewarding day for the BBCA and we hope to continue to provide such opportunities to many more conductors."

Thanks

He added: "My thanks go to Katrina Marzella Wheeler and Eduardo Portal, both Hammonds and Elland Silver Band, Halifax Minster and sponsors Yamaha. This is a competition that continues to grow in stature and today's excellence certainly showed that."