The Royal Air Force Music Services Association wishes to contact retired and former musicians of the service established bands, to invite them to consider joining the association, and in so doing to welcome them to renew past friendships with former colleagues. Contact has been lost with many since their leaving the service and this notice is to make available the means whereby membership application of the association may be made. The RAF Music Services Association was founded in 1987, and it exists to perpetuate the spirit of the service through means of such contact by our magazine 'The Blue and The Gold', the annual reunion and our membership list.

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BASBWE has launched a new composition competition, dedicated to encouraging new, young and exciting composers to write for wind ensembles/symphonic band. It is open to composers who are from the United Kingdom, or who are currently resident in the UK, and are under the age of 19 on October 31st 2010.

The deadline for entries is September 1st 2010, and from these initial entries a panel consisting of Clark Rundell, Mark Heron, Peter Meechan and Adam Gorb will select up to 4 finalists. These four pieces will be rehearsed and recorded by the RNCM Wind Collective, and a winner will be selected and have their work performed by the RNCM Wind Collective at the 2010 RNCM Wind and Brass Weekend in association with BASBWE, held on the 30-31 October. All finalists will receive a recording of their work.

Please visit the 2010 Festival pages for more details, by clicking

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Details of the Canford 2010 course, and details of the event as a whole, are currently available at Tim Reynish's website:

www.timreynish.com

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For the past ten seasons, the Dallas Wind Symphony has established a tradition of performing brass fanfares 15 minutes prior to curtain in the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, Texas. Our patrons eagerly gather in the lobby to hear these fanfares, which have become an important part of the concert experience.

Composers are to submit their unpublished fanfares to the address below by July 16th, 2010. Fanfares should be no longer than two (2) minutes. Seven fanfares will be selected by committee.

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CELEBRATING GRAINGER 2011
KINGS PLACE Thurs 17-Sat 19 Feb 2011 / BRITISH LIBRARY Sun 20 Feb 2011

and launching The New Percy Grainger Companion

Artistic Director Penelope Thwaites

Music Consultant Barry Peter Ould

Vocal Consultant Stephen Varcoe

Wind Band Consultant Tim Reynish

Keyboard Consultant John Lavender

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50 years since the death of the maverick composer Percy Grainger (1882-1961), where might his music take us now?

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BASBWE founder and former Chairman Tim Reynish is on the move later this year with conducting several BASBWE works together with his most recent new commissions from Norbert Palej, Christopher Staff and Eric Nathan.

July finds him in Australia as principle clinician in Brisbane and guest conductor with Queensland Wind Orchestra in a programme of:

1. Masque: Kenneth Hesketh (6)

2. Song of Lir: Fergal Carroll (6)

Six Yiddish Dances: Adam Gorb

Tails aus dem Voods Viennoise: Bill Connor

Fri 9 — Sun 11 July 2010

ABODA QLD is hosting the Queensland Band and Orchestra Clinic in 2010 (QBOC2010). Final stages of planning are well under way for this major regional conference which is being held from Friday 9 to Sunday 11 July 2010 at Hillbrook Anglican School, Brisbane. The program is designed for school and community band and orchestra directors of all levels and will include con duct ing mas ter classes, for ums to explore rep er toire, rehearsal techniques, instrument pedagogy and additional opportunities to discover the latest in music technology. The clinicians for QBOC2010 include Tim Reynish (UK), Ralph Hult gren, Dr. Peter Morris, Dr. Andrew Mathers, Greg Aitken and Warwick Potter. A complete roster of clinicians will be released shortly. We are also negotiating performances by leading ensembles including the Queensland Wind Orchestra and the Aus­tralian Army Band Brisbane.

He then moves on to Melbourne to work with a number of bands before finishing his Australian tour in University of Adelaide with a programme at the Elder Conservatorium which includes:

Hesketh - Vranjanka
Jackson - Passacaglia
Ranki - King Pomade Suite
Gorb - Farewell
Alarcon - Concertango
Hesketh - Diaghilev Dances
Sunde - charM


In the first week of August, he will conduct the Singapore Philharmonic Winds in the new edition of Frank Bridge's Pageant of London, recently published by Faber Music.

In the September he travels to Venezuela to conduct the El Sistema Wind Band in Caracas, October finds him in Ukraine in a programme of orchestral music, November at the University of Athens in Georgia conducting both symphony orchestra and wind ensemble, and in December he returns to Canada to Wilfrid Laurier University to give conducting classes and to conduct the wind orchestra and symphony orchestra.

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PRESS RELEASE

CELEBRATING GRAINGER 2011

17-20 FEBRUARY 2011

KINGS PLACE CONCERT HALLS (17-19 Feb)

90 York Way, London N1 9AG

Tel: 0207520 1440

THE BRITISH LIBRARY (20 Feb)

96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB

Tel: 020843 208 1144

The maverick Australian, Percy Grainger (1882-1961) was a citizen of the world. A leading piano virtuoso and highly original composer, Grainger broke the snobbish boundaries of classical music, gaining inspiration from folk music of Europe, Asia and the Americas. His music is a celebration of life – from the wildly ecstatic to the heart-breakingly sad.

The three-day event at Kings Place showcases some of his most vivid repertoire and invites you to take part. Whether thrilling to the richness of the Royal Artillery Band and specially chosen instrumental ensembles from the London Music Colleges, or enjoying Grainger’s terrific choral works, exotic world music percussion settings and multi-pianos, this event will take you on a voyage of discovery you will not forget.

A Seminar at the British Library on Sunday 20 February will mark the exact 50th anniversary of Grainger’s death. Leading scholars will explore some of the unknown aspects of his adventurous life and work, complementing the projected launch of Boydell & Brewer’s The New Percy Grainger Companion.
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Contacts for Celebrating Grainger 2011

Artistic Director thwaites.jackson@googlemail.com Tel: 020 7794 5090
Percy Grainger Society info@percygrainger.org.uk Tel: 01296 428609
Kings Place Concert Halls info@kingsplace.co.uk www.kingsplace.co.uk

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Roger Argente, Bass Trombonist at the RPO and Head of Brass at Trinity College of Music earlier this year had a motorcycle accident which resulted in him breaking his leg and dislocating his ankle (ough !).

You will be pleased to know that he is well and truly on the mend and last week finally started back at work, but during his enforced home recuperation Roger decided to start a project related to tracking down past brass students of Trinity College of Music. ....."A lot of friends and visitors suggested I write a book, but I decided my pet project would be to try and locate as many ex TCM students as possible. SMS texting, the power of the internet, Google, Facebook and good old fashioned word of mouth have all helped immensely and I am now pleased to say I have now made contact with over 350 people. I've had replies from all over the world,... USA, Mexico, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, South Africa, Europe and Scandinavia. It's very pleasing to see so many, a very large percentage indeed of our students still heavily involved in music, either professionally or just for fun and hearing how their careers developed. My idea is to invite everyone along to our next annual brass festival in the Spring of 2011. It's a real shame that there are no real records of all the past students, or even the staff, but I do intend doing my best to contact as many as possible."

If you studied or know someone who studied brass at Trinity College of Music, whether it was 1st or 2nd study, an Undergraduate or Post Graduate course, were a recipient of the sorely missed Archers Big Band Scholarship or maybe you didn't even finish your course Roger would love to hear from you.

Please drop him a line at roger@rogerargente.com

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The City of Berlin together with EvenTTours from The Netherlands organizes the International Wind Orchestra Festival Berlin 2011 which will take place every year.

Travel dates: 1/2 – 5 June 2011.
The festival will take place in the beautiful and world famous concert hall of the "BERLIN PHILHARMONIE".

More info: www.eventtours.nl/index.en.html / email: info@eventtours.nl
Direct Link: http://www.eventtours.nl/HaFa%20Berlijn%202011%20english.htm

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FNUGG - a 40-45 min recital of great UGG classic and contemporary Euphonium music in aid of “Help for Heroes” will be given by Jonathan Sproule, the euphonium player from the Band of The Royal Logistic Corps.

The Event is a free recital with donations going to Help for Heroes.

Details:

Jonathan Sproule ATCL LGSM
Accompanied by Miss Sally Goodworth on Piano
Venue: St Barbara’s Garrison Church, Deepcut
Date: Thursday 25th March 2010
Time: 1915-2000hrs


Click here to view the poster for full details.

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