Flowers Band Annual Awards 2023
Annual Awards 2023
Every year, we present several awards to members of the band to acknowledge outstanding contributions in various ways. Our 2023 awards were presented on Saturday 16th December at our Christmas concert in the lovely Number 8 Arts Centre, Pershore.
Player of the Year - eMILY eVANS
Chosen by our musical director, this award recognises outstanding playing contributions throughout the year. This year, the award went to our Solo Horn player Emily Evans.
She has had a really memorable year, with several playing highlights. Earlier in the year, she recorded Mike Sheppard’s Horn Concerto, a piece written for her, on our Album, DA Vinci. She gave stunning performances at The British Open and at The National Finals, but the year was topped off when Emily won “Best Soloist” at Brass in Concert. She is only the second tenor horn player in the 46 years of the contest to win the award, and the band are hugely proud of her.
Dave Lee Memorial Award - Dominic Gardner
The Dave Lee Memorial Award was first presented in 2022. Dave Lee was a member of the band for several years, playing back row cornet. He sadly passed away last year due to cancer, at a tragically young age, and the band created the award to pay tribute to him. This award recognises the contributions of a player who sits on an inner part, who may not often have the chance to shine on solo playing, but who makes an exceptional and invaluable contribution all the same. Our 2023 winner is our 2nd trombonist Dominic Gardner.
Dom joined us around two years ago, coming from City of Cardiff (Melingriffith) Band. Since then, he has covered the solo trombone chair at several concerts, including at Three Choirs Festival, and really is a huge asset to the band.
Bandsman of the Year - Clare Smith
To run a brass band, there is a huge amount of administrative work that must be carried out, from logistics, to scheduling, to finances, and so much more. The Bandsman of the Year Award recognises an exceptional contribution in this field.
This years winner is Clare Smith. Clare is the player in the band with the longest continuous service, having joined in 2008. For the last few years, she has made a truly invaluable contribution as Treasurer and Committee Member. The role of Treasurer is hugely time consuming, and is a daunting responsibility, and we are hugely grateful to Clare for carrying out the role for the band.
It must also be mentioned that Clare has an unofficial role within the band, as ‘Band Mum,’ as Clare often finds herself looking after younger players (most are in their mid 20’s now but still appreciate the mothering!).
Section of the Year - Percussion Section
Coco Chan - Ceri-Ann Townsend - Jamie Nuss
The Section of the Year Award is chosen by our Musical Director, Paul. This year, the winners are our fabulous Percussion Section!
From tackling fiendishly difficult parts in test pieces this year, to playing new and bizarre instruments such as teacups and saucers, and the infamous ‘Bullroarer’ from The British Open, the Percussion Section really have done an amazing job.
Congratulations to Coco Chan, Ceri-Ann Townsend, and Jamie Nuss.
Players’ Player Award- Emily Evans
Arguably the most coveted award, as it is voted for by band members, Players’ Player recognises outstanding contributions as seen by other players. This year, there were nominations for 9 different members of the band, which speaks to the calibre of player we are so lucky to have.
This year’s winner is Emily Evans!
As if winning ‘Best Soloist’ at Brass in Concert, Player of the Year, and Players’ Player of the Year wasn’t enough, Emily is also nominated in the 4barsrest Awards 2023, for Player of the Year!
Congratulations to all award winners, they are richly deserved!
A Trip Down the Rabbit Hole!
Flowers bring Wonderland magic to Gateshead
Last Saturday, Flowers made the long trip to Gateshead for the 46th Brass in Concert Championships. This spectacular entertainment contest is held each November at the Glasshouse International Centre of Music (formerly known as The Sage).
We chose ‘Alice in Wonderland’ as our theme for this year, drawing inspiration from Lewis Carroll’s original novel as well as the cinematic adaptations by Disney and Tim Burton. This contest has become a showcase event for new music for brass bands, and we were delighted to present five world premieres composed by Dan Price, Lucy Pankhurst and Kelly-Marie Murphy.
Before we played our first note we transformed the stage into Wonderland, with an array of scenery and props made by members of the band. We also made full use of the fantastic audio-visual capabilities at the Glasshouse, with lighting effects and animated images on screen. All of these elements take time to prepare but really added to the immersive nature of our performance.
We opened our programme with ‘Down the Rabbit Hole’ by Dan Price. This evocative music set the scene and introduced us to the title character, Alice. She follows the White Rabbit and falls down a rabbit hole into a mysterious world.
Next up was ‘Curiouser and Curiouser’, a brand new solo for tenor horn by Lucy Pankhurst, performed by Emily Evans. This piece depicts Alice’s size-changing escapades as she encounters the ‘drink me’ bottle and irresistible ‘eat me’ cake. The piece is fiendishly difficult, stretching the range of the tenor horn, and with extremely virtuosic passages throughout. Emily gave a superb performance and was greeted by rapturous applause from the audience.
Emily Evans - Curiouser and Curiouser
Time for Tea’, also by Lucy Pankhurst, took us on a whistle stop tour of all our favourite Wonderland characters. The euphoniums (Mad Hatter), baritones (March Hare), trombones (Caterpillar), cornets (White Rabbit), basses (Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee), horns (Alice) and flugel (Cheshire Cat) each took their turn to feature at the front of the stage at the tea party table.
Cornet Section - Time for Tea
‘Pavan for a Jam Tart’ by Dan Price whisks us away to the castle of the Red Queen. The main theme is periodically interrupted by fanfares, mimicking the erratic behaviour of the Queen of the Hearts, and her outcries of ‘off with their heads!’.
The last piece was ‘O Frabjous Day! Alice Slays’ by Kelly-Marie Murphy, which depicts the battle between Alice and the Jabberwocky. This is dramatic music showing off the technical skill and dynamic range of the band, and was a fitting finale to our programme.
Dom and Pete - Time for Tea
We were delighted to be awarded 3rd place overall, equalling our best ever placings from Brass in Concert 2015, 2019 and 2021, and with our highest score to date. Music and Quality of Performance adjudicator Margie Antrobus awarded us first place, with a full 60 out of 60 points, and said: “Fantastic performance. The band sounds amazing, each group earns its place. Soloists are unbelievable. Well done!”
We also ranked highly on programme content (2nd overall) and entertainment (3rd and 4th respectively from each judge). Entertainment judge Jo Towler described our performance as “Effective storytelling, with dramatic music really matching the action. Slick show - nicely done!”
Emily Evans was the very deserving recipient of the ‘Best Soloist’ prize, only the second time ever that this has been awarded to a tenor horn player. I think it’s fair to say she was quite surprised when the results were called, but nobody else was! She gave a truly outstanding rendition of ‘Curiouser and Curiouser’, and we couldn’t be prouder to have her in our band.
Emily Evans with The Geoffrey Whitham Award for Best Soloist
Our third accolade of the evening was for best new arrangement or composition, awarded to Lucy Pankhurst for ‘Time for Tea’. This was selected from 47 new pieces performed on the day. Lucy is the first woman to have ever won the award in the 46 years of the competition, something which seems long overdue. We are extremely grateful to the RVW Foundation for their financial support in the commissioning of Lucy’s two pieces for our programme.
Basses - Time for Tea
Brass in Concert was a fantastic end to our 2023 contest season. While the results may not have all gone our way this year, we’ve been thrilled to see so many Flowers fans supporting us and enjoying our performances at venues all across the UK.
Celebrating!
If you couldn’t make to it Gateshead, fear not, as our performance is available to replay on Wobplay. While you’re there, you can also listen to our latest CD, ‘DA Vinci’, which features a new concerto for Emily Evans, and solos by Lauren Chinn and Paul Richards.
DA Vinci - wobplay
We’re already back at rehearsals preparing for our next CD recording in a week, and Christmas concerts. You can find all upcoming performances and links to buy tickets on our Engagements Page. If you’d like to join us at the Bacon Theatre on 21st December please be aware tickets are on track to sell out, so you’ll need to be quick to grab those last few seats!
Bacon Theatre 2023
British Open 2023 - Retrospective
The weekend of 9th/10th September marked the 169th British Open Championships, widely accepted as the pinnacle of the UK banding calendar. We travelled to Birmingham in high spirits after a busy summer of music making and the best attended open rehearsal in memory, where we previewed our rendition of this year’s chosen test piece: ‘Sand and Stars’ by French composer Thierry Deleruyelle.
This set test was chosen after receiving an enthusiastic reception at both the Swiss National Championships and European Championships by Brass Band Treize Etoiles, both of which the band won. Our principal cornet Luke Barker was part of these performances during his studies abroad, and so we were very excited to play the piece after hearing great things about it! It is a demanding work with technical and musical challenges for all sections of the band and soloists, in particular flugelhorn, solo euphonium, solo trombone and principal cornet. Our Musical Director Paul Holland put us through our paces in rehearsal to ensure we paid attention to all the small yet significant details of the score and brought to life the storyline of aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s attempted record flight in the 1930s.
The contest day was a test of the band’s stamina and nerve as we found ourselves drawn to play band number 18 of 18, on one of the hottest days of the year. After hearing the draw at 9am we waited over 10 hours for our moment on stage, trying to keep our adrenaline levels under control and not let dread take over as we heard reports of the steadily increasing temperatures in the auditorium of Symphony Hall! At this point we were even more grateful for our trip to France in June as the 32+ degree heat on stage there was good practice for this contest!
We were determined to put on a great show, both to honour the hard work we had put in in preparation and also to thank the intrepid audience members who had stayed all day in the sweltering conditions to listen to us. We were delighted with both the performance and the audience reaction; we received the loudest and longest applause we can recall in recent times, and a standing ovation from many in the hall. Thank you also to everyone who was watching remotely on WOB Play who left comments on social media; we read every comment and we are so grateful for your support.
If you would like to listen to our performance on demand, it is available on WobPlay, where you can also find our latest CD, DA Vinci.
The adjudicators placed us 8th out of the 18 competing bands. Stephen Roberts described our performance as “a real treat at the end of a long day” and “A splendid performance, full of verve, energy and passion”. This may not have been the result we were hoping following our performance, but we were very proud of the way we played, and had a great weekend socialising too!
We would like to congratulate our friends at Foden’s Band for their fantastic victory in an extremely competitive field. They will go on to represent England at the 2025 European Championships.
We are already back in rehearsals for our next competition which will be the Championship Section National Finals at the Royal Albert Hall, playing Edward Gregson’s ‘Of Men and Mountains’. We’d be delighted to see Flowers fans in the audience if you are able to be in London on 21st October, and tickets are available directly from the RAH website.
National Brass Band Championships | Royal Albert Hall
The next opportunity to hear us in concert is Thursday 21st of September at the Nest, Little Verzons Farm near Ledbury.
Flowers Band - Thursday Sept 21st - Little Verzons Farm
We are also returning to Pershore on 7th of October for an “Afternoon of Stage and Screen” at Number 8 Arts Centre.
The Flowers Band in Concert: An Afternoon of Stage & Screen - Number 8
Three Choirs Festival 2023
We were the first brass band to perform in the main part of the festival in over 40 years, and what an experience it was.
To perform in our home city of Gloucester at such a prestigious event was a true privilege, and we were extremely proud to be a ‘Featured Ensemble,’ alongside ensembles such as The Philharmonia, The BBC National Orchestra of Wales and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
The whole band are extremely grateful to Festival Director, Alexis Patterson, for her enthusiasm for the band, and her desire to feature us so prominently in the festival, widely known as one of the premier classical music festivals in the UK.
Gloucester Cathedral - 29th July, 2023
22nd July - Opening Procession and Service
The band met early in the morning and played a short slot at Kyneburgh Tower before leading the procession through to the Cathedral, playing a mix of marches and hymn tunes along the way.
Flowers Band - 22nd July, 2023
Then, a dectet from the band performed with the festival choir in the opening service, conducted by Adrian Partington. The group played Fanfare for Three Choirs 250th Anniversary, 1977 composed by Herbert Howells, which led into Elgar’s setting of The National Anthem. Other repertoire in the set included Vaughan Williams O Clap Your Hands. We have to say a massive thank you to Huw, our 3rd cornet player, who rearranged all of the parts for the service as the music was originally written for an orchestral dectet with French Horns, Trumpets in C and Trombones in bass clef.
Following this, the band reassembled outside on the cathedral precinct, and we performed a short slot on the festival bandstand, braving the challenging weather conditions to some very committed supporters!
Flowers Dectet and Three Choirs Festival Choir - 22nd July, 2023
23rd July - Magic and Mischief
We had a great time with artist and storyteller James Mayhew, creating Magic and Mischief together at The Bacon Theatre in Cheltenham for our family friendly concert. The paintings created were spectacular, and the audience extremely receptive.
Paintings created live in concert by James Mayhew - 23rd July, 2023
It was wonderful to work with Guest Conductor Jayne Murrill, who led us through a descriptive programme of Rimmer’s arrangement of Scheherazade, Howarth’s setting of Baba Yaga and The Great Gate of Kiev, Bourgeois’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and Farr’s The Firebird Suite.
Flowers Band in Rehearsal - 23rd July, 2023
29th July - Fanfares and Love Songs
The final day of Three Choirs Festival and what a way to end.
It was a true privilege to perform to over 500 people in the phenomenal acoustic of Gloucester Cathedral, and it was great to receive amazing feedback from people as far afield as Maine and Iowa!
Opening the programme with Paul Lovatt-Cooper’s Home of Legends, the band immediately made an impression on the audience, with Luke Barker, our principal cornet, performing the off stage fanfare. Luke is now back in the UK full time following his studies abroad in Switzerland and Spain, and it has been amazing to have him back with us.
Flowers Band Cornet Section - 29th July, 2023
This was followed by Vaughan Williams’ English Folk Songs Suite. His career has been closely identified with the festival since the early 20th Century, with several of his works being premiered at the festival. The piece may be most performed in Wind Band’s, Denis Wright’s wonderful arrangement suited the occasion perfectly.
Next was Jan van der Roost’s Canterbury Chorale, and although it may refer to a different cathedral, but it felt at home amongst the grandeur of the famed stained glass windows of Gloucester Cathedral.
To close the first half came the first of the major works we performed, John McCabe’s Cloudcatcher Fells. The piece portrays the striking scenery of the Patterdale area of the Lake District and is a true masterpiece of the brass band repertoire. In stunning in the surroundings of the cathedral the piece came to life, the quietest passages felt truly special and serene, and the thunderous ‘Helvellyn’ reverberated around the Cathedral in an awe-inspiring way. Lauren Chinn on Flugel and Emily Evans, Lara Shaw and Clare Smith on Tenor Horn deserve special mention in this piece, with some fiendishly difficult quiet playing which they executed beautifully.
The band were touched to receive a lovely message from John’s widow, Monica, who sent us her best wishes and expressed her delight at having the piece included in our programme.
Flowers Band - 29th July, 2023
To open the second half of the concert, we featured local composer Gavin Higgins’ ‘Fanfares and Love Songs’, which was the title of our concert today. The piece in 3 movements made for an impressive start, with the opening fanfare echoing around the cathedral. The more mellow middle movement again showcased Luke’s signature sound, and it was lovely to see some of Gavin’s family in the audience, as he wasn’t able to attend.
Following this, the band went into Nimrod, from Elgar’s Enigma Variations, arranged by Denis Wright. Like Vaughan Williams, Elgar has a long history with Three Choirs Festival, and premiered several works at the festival, so programming his work felt natural.
The final of the major works featured in our programme was Tide and Time, a major work written by local composer Dr Liz Lane. The piece is deeply personal to Liz, as it relates to several pieces of art created by members of her family, all with a connection to water. The number ‘3’ also features prominently throughout, as one of her ancestors was a follower of Rosicrucianism, of which ‘3’ is an integral part. The stunning acoustic really brought this evocative piece to life, and having the composer present for this performance was wonderful for the band. Special mention must go to Luke Barker on Principal Cornet, Paul Richards on Soprano Cornet and Matt Rowe on Solo Euphonium for their solo contributions.
Dr Liz Lane - 29th July, 2023
To bring the concert to a close, we chose ‘Pomp and Circumstance No 1’. Again, by Elgar, it felt an appropriate way to close what had been a true musical journey, showcasing music by local composers, and underappreciated gems of the brass band repertoire.
A comment we received from several audience members was, “I didn’t know that a brass band could do a concert like this.” To be able to showcase the talent that the banding movement has, and the versatility of repertoire and performance that bands are capable of was a wonderful opportunity for the band, and again, we are so grateful to Three Choirs Festival for providing the platform to do so.
We must say a huge thank you to our guest conductor for this performance, Michael Fowles, for his fantastic leadership through what was undoubtedly a tough programme.
Flowers Band and Michael Fowles - 29th July, 2023
The band will now take a short break for summer, before returning to prepare for our appearance at The British Open and the Autumn season of concerts.
To check out our engagements leading up to the end of the year, check out our ‘Engagements’ page for more information, or click the button below!
Our French Adventure - June 2023 - A Retrospective
The band were delighted to receive an invitation to the tenth anniversary Brass Band Festival of Bourgueil on 24th/25th June, in the beautiful surroundings of the Loire Valley, France.
We arrived in Bourgueil around Saturday lunchtime, and were welcomed by our hosts from Brassband du Pays Bourgueillois (BBB) with a tasty lunch and plentiful locally-produced wine. This was our first opportunity to practice our French speaking, of which there are varied levels of proficiency around the band!
The Flowers Band with the committee of BBB upon arrival to Bourgueil.
After lunch our principal players delivered masterclasses to members of BBB: Paul Richards to the cornet section, Emily Evans with horns and flugel, Matt Rowe leading euphoniums and baritones, Rob Wilshaw to the trombones, Gregor Spence took care of the basses, and Coco Chan with percussion. The masterclasses focussed on repertoire the band were preparing for that evening’s gala concert, as well as broader advice on how to improve various aspects of playing such as technique and sound.
In the meantime, the rest of the band were taken to the local vineyard for a wine tasting, as the Bourgueil region is renowned for its red wine (delicious wine would become quite the theme of this trip!).
The remainder of the afternoon and early evening was taken up with rehearsals for the evening performance, including our MD Paul Holland working with BBB on ‘Share My Yoke’ which featured soloist Josie Allen. Josie stepped up from repiano to principal cornet seat for the weekend, and played beautifully throughout.
BBB conducted by Paul Holland in rehearsal of Share my Yolk featuring Josie Allen.
The first half of the gala concert was given by BBB, the local band. They presented a varied programme of music, including ‘Olympic Spirit’ , ‘Short Ride in a Brass Machine’, and ‘Under the Boardwalk’ with flugel soloist. The packed out audience of over 600 people were enthralled by their performance, so much so that they demanded multiple encores.
We then took to the stage for the second half with a programme that included our Brass in Concert 2021 Monopoly-themed set, band favourite ‘Bright Lights Big City’, and an outstanding rendition of ‘Flowerdale’ by soprano cornet soloist Paul Richards. Our other featured soloist was Matt Rowe, performing Bert Appermont’s ‘Green Hill’, and both soloists received well-deserved standing ovations. Despite the late hour, well past 11pm, the audience would not let us leave without numerous encores, and we closed the show with a rapid rendition of ‘Toccata’.
It was at this point that our hosts announced their plans for the night’s entertainment, which would include incredible food, boules and wine. We cannot thank them enough for their generosity and hospitality; we thoroughly enjoyed celebrating both band’s performances. A few intrepid members of the band stayed for the after party and early morning barbeque, demonstrating considerable stamina having been awake for over 24 hours since departing from Gatwick! Some of the photos from this part of the trip definitely aren’t fit for public viewing, so you’ll just have to imagine how the later part of the night went!
On Sunday morning we were the first band to perform on the outdoor stage at the festival, in a fantastic line up that also included BBB, A Tours de Brass, Paris Brass Band and Brass Band Exo. It was already nearing 30 degrees on the outdoor stage when we started our set at 11.30am, but the extreme weather would not detract from our enjoyment and quality of performance, as we presented a programme of film and entertainment music for a very enthusiastic crowd. Featured soloists included Matt Rowe, Lauren Chinn and trombone trio Rob Wilshaw, Dom Gardner and Pete Richards, and we were joined on stage by guest players Gabrielle from BBB and Mathilde from Brass Band Exo.
After yet more delicious food, a paddle in the lake, and an opportunity to hear BBB’s second performance of the weekend, it was sadly time for us to depart. After a whirlwind 48 hours of music and entertainment we were all ready for some downtime, and the coach was unusually quiet on the journey to Paris as the band caught up on some much needed sleep! We arrived safely back in the UK on Sunday evening.
We had a wonderful and truly memorable weekend in France. It was an honour to be the first English band to appear at the festival, and we hope not the last! Thank you so much to our friends at BBB for all their work in organising the festival and hosting us for the weekend, and we hope to return to your delightful town again soon. We’ve left with unforgettable memories, souvenirs and a lasting friendship. Au revoir, à la prochaine. Sante!
Our next performance is on Saturday 29th of July, 2pm at Gloucester Cathedral and is our final engagement as part of Three Choirs Festival, and the last engagement before our summer break. Click the button below to get ticket information.
Flowers Spring Round Up
Flowers Spring Round Up
While it may be a quiet time of year for competitions as we enter the summer months, the band has not slowed down at all! We’ve been hard at work in the rehearsal room, on the concert stage, and in the recording studio.
Stroud Subscription Rooms
In mid April we returned to Stroud Sub Rooms, a venue just down the road from our home in Gloucester. We performed a wide selection of music, including compositions from film, classical and baroque genres, and also reprised some of our favourite pieces from previous Brass in Concert entertainment contests. Our soloists Emily Evans, Lauren Chinn and Paul Richards were in fine form, as ever.
We’ll be back in Stroud again on 18th February 2024 - mark your diaries!
Stroud Subscription Rooms - 23rd April, 2023
Coming soon - New Album
We were delighted to team up with World of Brass to record a new album of music that will be released later this year on their Wobplay platform. Over two days we recorded eleven tracks, all compositions written by friends of the band, including Paul McGhee Christian Overhead, Richard Taylor and a major work by Ludovic Neurohr to name but a few.
Our featured soloists include Paul Richards (soprano cornet), Lauren Chinn (flugel), guest principal cornet Iain Culross, and we are so excited for you to hear a brand new tenor horn concerto written by Mike Sheppard for Emily Evans.
Thank you to World of Brass for a super weekend in the recording studio, and particular thanks to our producer Mel. We can’t wait to hear the results and share them with you all. We shall let you know once we have a confirmed release date (expected to be autumn 2023).
World of Brass CD - 29th/30th April, 2023
Badminton Horse Trials
On the Coronation bank holiday the band braved the wet weather to perform in the main arena at Badminton Horse Trials. We played at key moments during the competition, including the winner’s anthem, prize giving and the lap of honour. It was a great privilege to be invited to perform at this world-renowned event in the equestrian calendar, and you can hear a few minutes of our performance right at the end of the BBC’s coverage (starts at 1hr 55 https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001ltlt).
Thank you to the audience who were so appreciative of our performance. We’ve been sent a few recordings that you took from the stands, which we loved! If you have any other photos or videos of the event we’d be delighted if you would share them with us.
Badminton Horse Trials - 8th May, 2023
Flowers on the International Stage
We were extremely proud to see three of our members involved in the King’s Coronation, marching in the Coronation Parade with their regiments. Congratulations LCpl Jamie Nuss (percussion), LCpl Kelvin Retallack (cornet) and Cpl Ieuan Walton (bass) for your involvement in this historic event.
Coronation of King Charles III - 6th May, 2023
Congratulations to our principal cornet player, Luke Baker, who celebrated victory at the European Championships, playing with the Swiss champions, Brass Band Treize Etoiles. As many of you will know, Luke has been undertaking a year of study in the city of Fribourg in Switzerland, and upon moving there, he joined the front row of Treize Etoiles, and since then has become both a Swiss Champion and European Champion. Luke is returning to the UK soon and performing a solo at our concert in Nailsworth on 11th June - you won’t want to miss it!
Congratulations also go to our MD Paul Holland who led Whitburn Band to a respectable 10th place in an extremely competitive field.
European Championships - 6th May, 2023
Upcoming Vacancies
Due to player relocations we will have two vacancies in the band, for a 2nd Baritone and Eb bass. For more information or to make an application please email manager@flowers.band. Applications will close on Friday 19th of May at 6pm.
Upcoming Vacancies
Upcoming Events
Our next concert is at 3pm on 11th of June in St George’s Church, Nailsworth. We will present a varied programme of music from film music, to Vaughan Williams, a brass band march, some music to mark the coronation, and more. Solo performances will be given by Luke Barker, Lauren Chinn and Matt Rowe. To get tickets, go to our engagements page.
You can now purchase tickets for our two concerts in the 2023 Three Choirs Festival. We are one of the featured ensembles for this year’s event, alongside The Philharmonia Orchestra, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The BBC National Orchestra of Wales, British Youth Opera and the Ora Singers.
https://3choirs.org/events/magic-and-mischief
https://3choirs.org/events/flowers-band-fanfares-and-love-songs
The Royal Albert Hall have released tickets for the Championship Section National Finals on 21st October.
https://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/events/2023/national-brass-band-championships/
West of England Regional Championships 2023
On Sunday 12th of March, Flowers travelled to Torquay to compete at the 2023 West of England Regional Championships. Following cancellations and venue changes due to Covid=19, we were pleased to be back in this seaside town where the band has enjoyed considerable success.
This year’s chosen test piece was ‘Red Priest’ by Philip Wilby, a technical and musical challenge which was commissioned for the European Championships and has since been used for the British Open and Grand Shield. The band enjoyed preparing this piece, under the careful supervision of our Musical Director Paul Holland, and we were particularly pleased to see so many friends and supporters join our open rehearsal to hear a preview of our performance.
We were delighted to welcome Tom Nielsen as guest principal cornet. He was the latest in a line-up of top class cornet players occupying the end seat while Luke Barker continues his year of study in Switzerland. Tom has been a good friend of the band for several years, having met several members during his time as principal cornet player of the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain. He has appeared with us previously in concerts, and was thrilled to be asked to perform with us at the contest. We were very grateful that Tom was able to play for the band, managing to fit us in around his busy schedule as one of the leading freelance orchestral trumpet players in the UK, and all at the age of 21!
We were given a fairly early draw, 4/11, and played in the mid afternoon. We then enjoyed several drinks in the bar whilst we waited for the contest to conclude. After much deliberation by adjudicators Chris Jeans and Morten Hansen, in what was described as a battle between ‘two very close bands’, the band were awarded second place. The adjudicators described our performance as ‘musically astute’ and ‘a performance that radiated quality’, but with some small errors that were the differentiator between the top two placings.
With our qualification for the National Finals already secured due our top four placing last year, there were two further spots available for West of England bands. We very much look forward to seeing our friends from first-placed Camborne Band and third-placed Aldbourne Band at the Royal Albert Hall in October - congratulations to you all!
The band would like to thank the WEBBA organising team who work tirelessly to make this contest run smoothly and professionally every year.
The next opportunity to hear the band will be at Stroud Sub Rooms on Sunday 23rd April. Follow the link to get your tickets! Flowers Band | What's On | The Sub Rooms
Flowers Festive Round Up
We’ve been put through our paces since the conclusion of the contest season, performing several festive concerts across the West of England.
We’ve been put through our paces since the conclusion of the contest season, touring around Gloucestershire and beyond with a series of concerts. After two years of disrupted schedules we’ve thoroughly enjoyed playing for live audiences again, especially around Christmas as this is a typically busy season.
Our first concert, at St Mary’s Church in Bridgwater, followed shortly on from our performance at Brass in Concert. We reprised our entertainment set ‘Legend of Troy’, and also played this year’s First Section test piece ‘Trittico’, as well as a number of favourites from the film ‘Brassed Off’. It was the first time the band has ever played in Bridgwater and we were met with an exceptionally warm reception on what was a rather stormy and cold evening. It was a particularly special occasion for Lia Teague, who took on the Principal Cornet seat on her concert debut with Flowers - bravo Lia! Lia joined the band in October after moving to Cardiff to study at university and has slotted in fantastically.
Bridgwater Concert Set Up, November 2022
As we turned our calendars over to December it was time to get into the Christmas spirit. We were delighted to be invited once again to the Maggie’s Cheltenham Cancer Care annual fundraising concert.
We performed half a dozen items, including the solo, ‘Away in a Manger,’ which was beautifully performed by our flugel horn soloist Lauren Chinn, and a feature for our trombone section. Thanks to our hosts for their hospitality (the mulled cider was delicious!) and we hope you raised lots of money for an excellent cause.
Maggie’s Concert, December 2022
Next we travelled to Number 8 Arts Centre in Pershore, under the baton of our guest conductor Steve Legge. We have played in Pershore many times in the past, but this concert broke a 4 year hiatus. The recent snowfall was an idyllic background to our programme, which was a mix of traditional Christmas songs and film music, including ‘Somewhere in My Memory’ from Home Alone, a medley of tunes from ‘The Polar Express’ and ‘Fanfare and Flying Theme’ from E.T. (Our MD, Paul Holland, insists this is a Christmas film!). It was amazing to play in such a beautiful venue, a real hidden gem, and a huge thank you to the audience for such an enthusiastic welcome. We promise it won’t be another 4 years before we’re back!
Pershore Concert, December 2022
We held our final concert of the year at the Bacon Theatre in Cheltenham, joined by the wonderful Beauregard Academy Choirs.
It was great to have some audience participation during the carols, and for one young fan on sleigh bells during Leroy Anderson’s ‘Sleigh Ride’! We even managed to fulfil an audience request for a fan of the band from Canada who was visiting family in the area, which explained ‘I Will Follow Him,’ being performed by our trombones, disappointingly not wearing nun’s habits… maybe next year? The band were thrilled to welcome back Luke Barker on the end seat, who was home for Christmas from his year abroad in Switzerland. Amongst the musical items we took the opportunity to present the Flowers Band Annual Awards 2022 — Flowers Band. Congratulations to all winners!
Bacon Theatre Concert, December 2022
We’re going to be expanding our concert schedule in 2023, and so keep an eye on our ‘Engagements’ page to see where we’ll be next. Some of our engagements are currently listed, with more being added to the page soon. To make sure you never miss an announcement, sign up to our mailing list which can be found on the home page of our website.
Thank you to all our supporters who have followed Flowers this year. We wish you a Happy New Year and look forward to sharing more music with you in 2023.