Brass In Concert Youth Judges Revealed

The organisers of the Brass in Concert Championship have revealed the adjudicators for the first Youth BiC, which will be held at Sage Gateshead on Saturday 17th November in association with Yamaha, Banks Group and British Bandsman.

The confirmed adjudication panel is:-
Quality of Performance: Richard Evans
Entertainment and Presentation: Helen Harrelson

Brass in Concert Chairman John Woods told A4B: “We are delighted to be able to reveal such a high-quality panel of judges for this new event. The adjudication format will follow the same principles at the main Championship with 60% of the weighting applied to the quality of playing.

Both are, of course, vastly experienced professional musicians, with our Quality of Performance adjudicator Richard Evans, who conducted nine winning performances at Brass in Concert, and Helen Harrelson who began her playing career on euphonium with the Rotherham Schools Band before progressing to the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain. She later changed to baritone and was accepted at the Royal Northern College of Music where she studied with James Gourley, Sandy Smith, Steven Mead, and Bob Childs. Over the past 20 years Helen has been a member of some of the world’s finest brass bands including Black Dyke, Fodens, YBS, & Fountain City with whom she will perform on Sunday.”

Helen has recently received an award for outstanding contribution to music education from the Kansas Bandmasters Association.

John Woods concluded: “The six leading youth bands competing in the inaugural Youth Brass in Concert Championship will be judged by two experts in the field of Entertainment Education and Musicianship. The bands will perform a 20-minute own-choice entertainment set and the format will largely mirror the senior event on Sunday, competing for a first prize of £1,000.
With the Youth Championships being followed by the Gala Concert featuring Fodens and Matt Ford in a Sinatra themed presentation Saturday 17th November is a day not to be missed.

The competing bands are:-
Elland Silver Youth
Houghton Area Youth
Rochdale Borough Youth
Scottish Borders Youth
Wardle Academy Youth
Youth Brass 2000

Further announcements regarding the BiC adjudication panel are to be released very shortly