Last weekend saw St. Joseph’s Band, Strabane host a weekend of entertainment.

Initial idea

After an initial idea from band chairman, Thomas Barr, the weekend had plenty of variety for anyone with a musical interest.

The initial plan was for the Band to offer the venue for the years Brass Band League (BBL) Spring Festival, but the band decided to go one further and implement a 'Music Festival' whereby the competition would simply be an element of the weekend.

Stormont

The result saw the band play at the Stormont Assembly building in Belfast to launch the official 'North West Music Festival', where the band played in front of invited guests and some of the Members of Parliament from Northern Ireland.

Workshops

Included in this festival were workshops, master classes, acoustic music night, and a battle of the bands competition and even a few concerts, not to mention the BBL Spring League competition.

Professionals

Musical workshops were run by professional players from England, as well as some of Irelands finest. There were also conducting classes, music technology classes and even composing classes.

Saturday night saw the Swedish National Youth Brass Band (SNYBB) take to the stage of the Alley Theatre to play a concert featuring guest soloists.