Nelson City Brass is one of the oldest brass bands in New Zealand. Know by various names throughout the years it was established in 1857 as part of the military and with roots going back to 1841 it is in fact considered by many to be the country's first brass band.

The band has a wide age range and has competed very successfully at regional and national contests over the years.

The major sponsor of the band is the Nelson City Council and they are the only organisation within the community able to use the city's crest as their emblem.

Nelson City Brass regularly undertake concerts in the community and a regular feature each year is the Last Night of the Proms concerts. In recent years guests artists have included Dame Malvina Major and Tim Beveridge.

Nelson City Brass were pleased and fortunate to be able to appoint Nigel Weeks as their Musical Director at the beginning of 2016.

Nelson City Brass were the winners of the C Grade National Championships in both 2016 and 2017. In 2018, Nelson City Brass were promoted to B Grade where they won second place.  In 2019 Nelson City Brass won the B Grade Championship and subsequently have been promoted to the A Grade.

For the first time since the Second World War, the 2020 National Contest was cancelled in the wake of Covid-19.  Despite the uncertain economic times the band were fortunate to form a new partnership with local Building Society, NBS.