Antipodean Excursion
Earlier this year I was happy to receive an invitation from the National Youth Brass of New Zealand to appear as guest soloist and clinician for their third annual summer course held at the Victoria Music School in Wellington.The National Youth Brass is a group of 44 under 23 year old talented musicians chosen at audition from New Zealand's world class brass bands. Once a year summer courses are held in Wellington over six days, the band then goes on tour to different parts of New Zealand. This year the band travelled to the lower south island from its Wellington base.
The repertoire for the course proved to be a varied selection of challenging works from the brass band repertoire including Edward Gregson's Connotations, Philip Sparke's Music for a Festival and the newly commissioned Waipiro by Antipodean composer Gareth Farr. The hectic concert schedule included performances in Wellington, Timaru, Cromwell, Christchurch and Invercargill.
National Youth Brass in action in InvercargillFor the past three years the National Youth Brass has been conducted by Welshman Nigel Weeks. Nigel is an extremely talented musician and conductor and his personable approach to the thorough rehearsal schedule proved very successful. The subsequent excellent concert performances were due to his hard work.
Nick Hudson and National Youth Brass conductor Nigel WeeksIn addition to my involvement with the National Youth Brass I was fortunate enough to be able to conduct seminars for a number of New Zealand brass bands including Dalewool Auckland Band, Wanganui City Brass and the Metro Ford Porirua City Band.
Trombone workshop in WanganuiThe National Youth Brass of New Zealand have recently released a CD of their 1999 concert featuring guest artists Simone Rebello (percussion) and Riki McDonnell (euphonium). I was asked to review the release for the New Zealand banding press, click here to find out more.
Riki McDonnell and his wife, myself and Dalewool Auckland Brass trombonist Daniel Wilson.
My three-week trip was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and I very much look forward to 2001 when I will be revisiting Kiwi shores for a further solo tour.
If you would like to read more about the National Youth Brass, visit their Web site on http://www.geocities.com/nzbrass/NZ_Youth_Band.html
