To all readers, happy Australia Day or whatever name you go by for 26th January. For us, day 3 in Manchester saw more of the most amazing brass playing on earth. Another 3 bands of thrilling music were on offer at the RNCM again.

First up was the RNCM band, conducted by a guest conductor and featured a Trombone soloist, David Bremner who I actually met at the National Band Championships Australia in 1996 where we spoke after a very tricky solo in the test piece, Coal River. I elected not to reintroduce myself to save the embarrassment of "no, sorry I don't remember you" :) He has had a really successful career as Principal Trombone in the NZ Symphony orchestra and has been really busy in education sphere. He played a beautiful piece that was utterly breathtaking, and for me in parts, was all a bit much, but in a very soul enriching way. Equal parts :( and :). I take back unequivocally my thoughts from yesterday's post about the limitations of trombone as a solo instrument...he was magnificent. A humble, warm, brilliant energy exuded the whole performance, and drew both the ensemble that was accompanying him and the audience in a magical experience. Well, that's what I reckon anyway.

Second was the highly anticipated Cory Band with their refined, lovely conductor (tall, melting voice). Their first piece Storm was marvellous. They had a non-typical arrangement of players with alternating trombone, cornet, tenor horns standing behind the other players with the tubas in the front row. The sound difference was brilliant and quite exhilarating. The rest of their program was more traditional and their playing of Gregson's Dances and Arias was so professional and virtuosic...and I did remember the trombone part having played it in Sydney in the late 1990s!

I between those bands I headed into central Manchester to check out the Manchester Cathedral. Glad I did. A great combination of building from the past 600 years and a nice little diversion from the immersion in music.

We decided to cook our own tea at our AirBnB and just as we finished up, I checked the tickets and was shocked to read that the final band, Brighouse and Rastrick were due to start playing at 6:30pm not 7:30pm. It was 6:24pm. So...off we hustled down the road (10 minutes walk). Our rapid middle aged shuffling (Bronnie = Cliffy Young impersonation for those who know) saw us arrive, happily only missing the first item. What a treat they were. Their sound variety was equally as diverse as any of the other bands (they are globally ranked 8th, Cory 3rd, Foden's 1st, Tredegar 4th and Black Dyke 7th at the end of 2024), but they also played with such a magnificence rich, round sound...closest to a church organ combined with a choir. The final two items were composed one by a NZ composer and the last by an Australian...absolutely sublime experience for us. We can't quite believe that given the versatility of brass band sound as I've written about earlier, that they haven't reached a less "niche" audience. At the very least, they would be a significant improvement on the film score writing genre!!!! The guest conductor, David Bremner again showed his crazy musicality, shaping the music with brilliance that was really clear to us...was proud to be from southern hemisphere.

It was a nice feature too that for many of the pieces played this weekend that the composers were there to speak about the inspiration for their writing. A reminder of how deeply personal and emotional inspiration is when creative pursuits are happening. So...a final walk back to our accommodation and a chance to reflect and be grateful for being able to have gone to the festival this year. Unforgettable.