The National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain and St Martin-in-the-Fields in London has launched a three-year partnership aimed at creating new opportunities for young brass musicians.

The ambitious programme sees the NYBBGB's musical ethos link with St Martin-in-the-Fields' position as a respected, socially engaged centre for music, to provide performance, training and professional development opportunities for outstanding young brass musicians.

4BR was informed that it will support young musicians at different stages of their development through to August 2029 — from auditions and training, through high-quality performance opportunities, to conservatoire study and the first steps towards a professional musical career.

Ambition

Speaking about the initiative, NYBBGB, CEO, Mark Bromley, said: "Our ambition is to give talented young brass and percussion musicians exceptional musical experiences and opportunities, confidence and connections that can help them fulfil their potential.

This partnership also allows us to build that support across different stages of a young musician's development. There is enormous potential in what we can achieve together."

Widest possible

That was echoed by Chris Denton, CEO of St Martin-in-the-Fields, who added: "We have a longstanding commitment to musical excellence, developing talent and bringing exceptional live music to the widest possible audience.

This partnership enables us to build on that commitment by establishing a new youth-brass strand within our programme and developing lasting relationships with some of the country's most talented emerging brass musicians."

He added: "By bringing the strengths of our two organisations together, we hope to create something with a lasting impact — for young musicians, for our audiences and for the future of brass music."

By bringing the strengths of our two organisations together, we hope to create something with a lasting impact — for young musicians, for our audiences and for the future of brass musicChris Denton, CEO of St Martin-in-the-Fields

Three performance streams

4BR was informed that three performance streams will form the foundation of the partnership.

This will incude appearances by NYBBGB alumni within St Martin's Friday Lunchtime Recital Series; Christmas and seasonal concert opportunities for conservatoire-level and principal-standard NYBBGB musicians, and an annual summer performance by The NYBBGB Ambassador Ensemble.

The partnership will also create opportunities for young musicians to develop the skills, experience and understanding needed to progress — from hosting annual NYBBGB auditions to seminars and shared-learning opportunities.

Further details:

Further details of the partnership and performance opportunities that have been put in place, go to: https://www.nybbgb.org.uk/