The culmination of the 2023 annual course of the National Youth Brass Band of New Zealand saw a 35 strong ensemble undertake a short three date tour under MDs Tyme Marsters and Phil Johnston. 

The final concert was in Christchurch, where an appreciative audience (and worldwide live-stream viewers) focussed on the stage of the Ngaio Theatre to enjoy a programme entitled, 'Te Wa Heke Mai: The Future'. 

That has been built on the foundations of 884 players who have passed through the ranks since it was initiated, many of whom have returned as tutors or even conductors. 

The present ensemble consists of players from 15 different bands from both islands – from Ascot Park Hotel and Canterbury Brass to Wellington and Woolston. And with the New Zealand Championships due to be held in Dunedin in July, many of these players will be seen in solo and ensemble action once more with their own bands. 

Collective confidence

Little wonder there is a great deal of collective optimism, with ambition certainly not in short supply either with a first half built around the virtuosic test-piece demands of Stephen Robert’s exotic take on Rimsky-Korsakov’s ‘Arabian Nights’  – played with gutsy determination (especially the soloists) and style.

Little wonder there is a great deal of collective optimism, with ambition certainly not in short supply either with a first half built around the virtuosic test-piece demands of Stephen Robert’s exotic take on Rimsky-Korsakov’s ‘Arabian Nights’  – played with gutsy determination (especially the soloists) and style.

Nick Scott was the engaging tuba soloist – the multiphonic trickery of the final movement of ‘Eastern Folk Dances’  countered by the tenderness of ‘Ordner seg’.  (He later returned with the fun of ‘Very Good Morning’  and ‘Déjà vu’). A new opener by Bill Vail entitled, ‘Te Wa Heke Mai’  (The Future) and the pulsating ‘With Fire & Sword’  and ‘Festive Dance’  from ‘Mindia’  bookended things with vibrancy. 

Less formal

A  less formalinised second half (a change into away kit burgundy polo shirts) saw the band showcase their emerging individual and ensemble talents; a tasty ‘Mita’  followed by a jazzy ‘Danse Macabre Variations’,  Billy Joel’s ‘Lullaby’,  ‘Pzazz’  by Jared McCunnie, and the clever percussion features ‘Sabre Dance’ and ‘Postlu’  (four players bowing the vibraphone).

They closed with the up-tempo ‘Reaching for the Stars’,  ‘Malaguena’  and fizzy encore.   

Iwan Fox