Nelson City Brass Band National Champions

Nelson City Brass Band National Champions

Nelson City Brass achieved an impressive win over the weekend at the National Brass Band Championships held in Napier. The band emerged as the Champion C grade brass band in New Zealand, beating the other competing bands by a significant margin. The band received a first placing in the hymn, test and own choice making them the clear overall winners. They received the NZBBA Challenge Cup for the Champion C Grade band and Nigel Weeks, the band’s musical director, received the RNZAF Wigram Band Trophy for the Conductor of the Champion C Grade band.

In addition to this, the band and their drum major, Andrew Clark, achieved a third placing in the C grade for the street march event. Logan Ford, one of the band’s solo cornet players, was first place in the junior cornet solos and an impressive second place in the junior “champion of champions”, an event which showcases some of the top under 19 year old brass musicians in New Zealand.

This has been a long awaited win for Nelson City Brass, with their last overall win at a National Contest occurring in 2000. This is also the first time the band has taken out all three events and adds to the impressive clean sweep victory that they achieved in the regional contest this year.

The band has flourished under the baton of new musical director Weeks who took over conducting the band earlier this year. Contest adjudicator Associate Professor Peter Adams commented that the standard of all the competing bands was impressive but “one band stood out as a clear winner”. He praised the balance of the sound Nelson City Brass produced, the quality of their soloist players and treatment of the music they played.

The band will now prepare for their upcoming “Last Night of the Proms” concert on Saturday 3 rd and Sunday 4 th September at the Theatre Royal Nelson. Featuring high quality music from Nelson City Brass and special guest artists this will be a great opportunity for people in Nelson to come along and hear their brass band. Tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for students. Available from the Theatre Royal Nelson.

For further information please contact us through our contact page.