 Following a successful Spring | Summer, including performances at The Riverfront, Newport; Riviera Centre, Torquay and our BBE "Elevate" collaboration, City of Bristol Brass Band now look forward to a busy autumn | winter ahead, with performances of "The Planets | Our Planet" at Bath Abbey on Saturday October 4th; An Evening of Remembrance at Bristol Cathedral on Saturday November 8th; The Wrong Trousers LIVE! on Saturday November 30th at The Christmas Spiegeltent; and The Snowman LIVE! at the Curzon Cinema, Clevedon on Sunday December 7th and the Arnolfini Gallery on Saturday December 20th For tickets and further information on all these events, visit www.cobbb.co.uk/events We look forward to welcoming you to a City of Bristol Brass Band performance soon!
Following a very successful year in 2024, City of Bristol thoroughly look forward to another exciting year ahead in 2025. For 2025, the band have now been promoted to the elite Championship Section, the highest level of competitive brass performance. To that end, the band will open the year competing at the Welsh Open Championships at the Riverfront, Newport, South Wales in February, followed by the West of England Championships at the Riviera Centre, Torquay in March
After focusing on competitive performance to open the year, the band will then focus on a contemporary music recording project with Sonic Threads Duo, supported by Brass Bands England and their Elevate commissioning programme. A further contemporary music event will follow at the prestigious Arnolfini Gallery in October In the autumn, the band will then reveal our 2025 concert project, "The Planets | Our Planet", a grand scale performance of a new concert suite by British Army composer Gareth Trott, focused on the life and work of Sir David Attenborough, plus a rare performance on brass of Gustav Holst's epic suite "The Planets". The performance will be held in the majestic surroundings of Bath Abbey on Saturday October 4th. Tickets for the performance are now available here The band will close out the year with our latest collaboration with Bristol based Aardman Studios and performances of "The Wrong Trousers LIVE" at the Christmas Spiegeltent, followed by performances of our popular Christmas show "The Snowman LIVE" at the Curzon Cinema, Clevedon and the Arnolfini Gallery in December For information on all and tickets for all the band's forthcoming events to date, visit the Events page  On Saturday September 28th, City of Bristol Brass Band featured in a second performance of our 2024 | 25 concert project "The Lord of the Rings"
The project, a collaboration between City of Bristol and South Wales' Lewis Merthyr Band, celebrates the 70th anniversary of the publication of J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy masterpiece, which was first published in three volumes between July 1954 to October 1955 Throughout 2024-25, City of Bristol and Lewis Merthyr Band will mark this literary landmark in music through a series of performances of works inspired by or linked to Tolkien's pioneering tome. The first of the performances took place in South Wales at the Brecon Medieval Festival at Brecon Cathedral on Sunday May 5th at 7:30pm by Lewis Merthyr Band, and was then followed by a massed bands performance featuring both bands at the Oriana Festival at St Elvan's, Cynon Valley, South Wales. This was then followed by a second massed performance in the glorious surroundings of Bristol Cathedral Repertoire featured in the performances includes a range of music from all three Lord of the Rings movie scores by Howard Shore, plus Gandalf and Hobbits from Johan De Meij's Lord of the Rings Symphony, and Edward Gregson's epic An Age of Kings The Lord of the Rings performances will continue in 2025 with performances in Ravensburg, Germany in April by Lewis Merthyr Band, at St Mary's, Berkeley by City of Bristol in May, and a final performance currently in discussion on the island of Jersey together with Jersey Premier Brass On Saturday September 14th 2024, City of Bristol represented the West of England in the Finals of The National Championships of Great Britain at The Centaur, Cheltenham. With COBBB Musical Director Craig Roberts in Colorado, USA directing the Estes Park International Tattoo, the band were delighted to again work with and perform under the baton of the renowned conductor and adjudicator David Hirst on the set work, Jan Van Der Roost's "Excalibur"
COBBB then reprised their performance of the same work in the 2024 GBBA Championships on Sunday November 24th. While neither performance yielded podium placings, the band's solo euphonium for the GBBA performance and Conductor of the City of Bristol Community Band, Alistair Cupples, was awarded the Steve Purvis Trophy as the Best Euphonium Player of the 2024 Championships. Congratulations Ali! City of Bristol Brass Band will now be promoted to the elite Championship Section for the 2025 season and look forward to competing at this, the highest level in brass band competitive playing, in the year ahead City of Bristol recently travelled to participate in the famed Whit Friday March at Saddleworth. The band performed George Allen's "Knight Templar" and music with a Bristolian flavour - the theme from Aardman Animation's "Chicken Run", a video of the performance of which in the village of Delph is available below The band had a super time and performed at Delph, Denshaw, Grotton, Lees, Lydgate and Scouthead. A series of images from the day are also available below   On Saturday May 18th, City of Bristol Brass Band featured at the prestigious Oriana Festival in South Wales, performing together with Rhondda Cynon Taf's Lewis Merthyr Band in our combined 2024 | 25 concert project "The Lord of the Rings The project celebrates the 70th anniversary of the publication of J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy masterpiece, which was first published in three volumes between July 1954 to October 1955. Throughout 2024-25, City of Bristol and Lewis Merthyr Band mark this literary landmark in music through a series of performances of works inspired by or linked to Tolkien's pioneering tome The first of the performances took place in South Wales at the Brecon Medieval Festival at Brecon Cathedral on Sunday May 5th at 7:30pm by Lewis Merthyr Band, and was then followed by this massed bands performance at the Oriana Festival in St Elvan's, Cynon Valley Repertoire featured in the performances includes a range of music from all three Lord of the Rings movie scores by Howard Shore, plus Gandalf and Hobbits from Johan De Meij's Lord of the Rings Symphony, and Edward Gregson's epic An Age of Kings In addition to the 60 musicians of the combined bands, the performance also included harp, piano, two off stage trumpets and massed male choir. The wider festival also included performances by Rhondda Symphony Orchestra, former Royal Harpist to King Charles III Claire Jones, opera star Mark Llewelyn-Evans and more The performance was incredibly well received and an article on the performance from Celtic Newspapers | Wales Online is included below The Lord of the Rings performance will be repeated at Bristol Cathedral on Saturday September 28th  
City of Bristol Brass Band are delighted to have been crowned 2024 West of England First Section Champions. The band were placed first out of 18 bands in the championships held at the Riviera Centre, Torquay
The band's performance of Eric Ball's "High Peak" was highly commended by adjudicators Dr Stephen Cobb and Christopher Binns, with the band's performance described by the adjudicators as "commendable", "strong and confident" with "lovely sound quality" and "very confident playing from a very capable band" - "bravo MD and band" In September 2024, City of Bristol will now go on to represent the West of England in the Finals of the National Championships of Great Britain held at The Centaur, Cheltenham, and will also be promoted to the elite Championship section in 2025 based on the band's consistent excellence over the past three years The full results of the competition are outlined below 2024 West of England First Section Championships Saturday March 9th Riviera Centre, Torquay Adjudicators: Christopher Binns & Dr Stephen Cobb 1. City of Bristol Brass (Craig Roberts)* 2. Michelmersh Silver (Kevin Smith)* 3. Lydbrook (Gareth Ritter)* 4. Helston Town (John Berryman) 5. Chalford (Steve Tubb) 6. Roche Brass (Keith Maxwell) 7. Forest of Dean Brass (Martyn Patterson) 8. Glastonbury Brass (Phil Randall) 9. Hyde (Nigel Seaman) 10. Lympstone (Chris Spreadbury) 11. Soundhouse Brass Plymouth (Lee Clayson) 12. Weston Brass (Ian Dickinson) 13. Bournemouth Concert Brass (Lloyd Bartlett) 14. Wotton under Edge & District (Jim Bennett) 15. Hatherleigh Silver (Matt Green) 16. Lanner & District Silver (David Johnson) 17. Sidmouth Town (Adrian Harvey) 18. Otterbourne Brass (Jonathan Lush Camps LRSM) *Qualify for invitation to National Final  On Saturday February 24th, City of Bristol Brass Band participated in a regional championships workshop at Oatley Hall, St Monica's Trust, working together with Lewis Merthyr Band of South Wales, with renowned conductor and adjudicator David Hirst, on the 2024 Regional Championships set work, Eric Ball's "High Peak" David has an incredible pedigree. He began his musical career at the age of ten with his local village band playing cornet. He made rapid progress, and, at the age of fourteen was accepted into the Yorkshire Imperial Metals Band on the solo cornet bench. Two years later David joined the Black Dyke Mills Band on Soprano Cornet, where he had four successful years including wins at the British Open, National and World Championships In 1972 David began studying music at the University of Huddersfield, being taught by the great trumpet soloist Maurice Murphy. A growing interest in orchestral and big band playing then led him to being one of the early members of the James Shepherd Versatile Brass In 1978 David rejoined the Black Dyke Mills Band on Soprano cornet enjoying further contest success. By the mid ‘70s he was conducting various bands before being appointed in 1980 as the Musical Director of the Andrews Heat for Hire Band. After five successful years he then took over as Musical Director at Lewington Yamaha Band, followed by two years as the Resident Conductor at Black Dyke, conducting the band during their historic tour of Australia in 1988 In 1990 David returned to the Yorkshire Imperial Band conducting them at the British Open, All England Masters and as prize-winners at the “Brass in Concert” competition over three successive years. In 1994 David was invited to join the ‘World Famous’ Brighouse & Rastrick Band as Resident Musical Director, relinquishing this position in 2005 after 11 years. During this period the Band were National Champions (1997 and 1998), European Champions (1998) and All England Masters Champions (1997 and 2001) in addition to Yorkshire Area Champions (1995, 1997 and 2003). Since leaving B&R David has been guest conductor with Grimethorpe, Faireys and Fodens, and more Both Lewis Merthyr and City of Bristol thoroughly enjoyed working with David and found his advice and insight invaluable. The bands now look forward to their performances at the West of England and Welsh Regional Championships at the Riviera Centre, Torquay and Brangwyn Hall, Swansea later this month Our thanks go to David for all his hard work and tremendous advice, and to Lewis Merthyr Band for joining us for the workshop. The band look forward to working together with Lewis Merthyr in Wales for a joint performance at the 2024 Oriana Festival at St Elvan's, Cynon Valley on Saturday May 18th, in our combined 2024 | 25 project, "The Lord of the Rings". For further information and tickets for the event, visit www.stelvans.com/oriana-festival A very Happy New Year to all friends and followers of City of Bristol Brass Band. The band enjoyed another incredibly successful year in 2023, and have lots to look forward to in 2024!
The year opens with the band's participation in the 2024 UK Regional Brass Band Championships, a nationwide competition series between all brass bands in the UK. COBBB are ranked in the First Section and will compete in the West of England Championships at the Riviera Centre, Torquay on Saturday March 9th - wish us luck! Prior to the championships, the band will also participate in a workshop with the renowned conductor & adjudicator David Hirst together with our friends, the Lewis Merthyr Band of South Wales on Saturday February 24th at Oatley Hall, St Monica's Trust The band will also work with Lewis Merthyr in May, performing in the prestigious Oriana Festival at St Elvan's, Cynon Valley, South Wales where the two bands will combine to perform in massed bands plus Massed Male Choir, solo vocalist, piano & harp, for our grand scale 2024 | 25 project "The Lord of the Rings" The two bands will also combine for a reprise of The Lord of the Rings in Bristol, in the glorious surroundings of Bristol Cathedral on Saturday September 28th Additional engagements will see the band perform at the famed Whit Friday Brass Band Championships at Saddleworth | Tameside in May; undertake a family performance centred around music for animated film, including Aardman animations classic "The Wrong Trousers Live!" at the Curzon Cinema; and perform in Wales again at the National Eisteddfod of Wales at Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf in August For full details and tickets for all the band's 2024 performances, visit the Events page If you would like to contact the band to discuss engaging City of Bristol Brass Band for your performance or event, or are interested in joining the band, please contact us Here's to another fantastic year ahead!  This Christmas, in addition to its usual wide range of Christmas events and carol performance, COBBB were delighted to present four sold-out performances of "The Snowman Live!"
A one hour festive performance for all the family, "The Snowman Live" featured City of Bristol Brass Band in music from "Frozen", "Polar Express" plus the full score with LIVE screening of the British animated classic "The Snowman" Performances were undertaken at the Curzon Cinema, Clevedon on Saturday December 3rd and St George's, Bristol on Saturday December 9th from 11:00 to 12:00 and 14:30 to 15:30 at both venues on each date The band were delighted at the incredibly positive reception to the performances, and look forward to presenting "The Snowman Live" again in December 2024, and also presenting our NEW family summer presentation "The Wrong Trousers Live" next summer For full information and tickets for "The Wrong Trousers Live" and all our additional 2024 engagements, visit www.cobbb.co.uk/events |
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