Kingdom Triumphant
There will be celebrations in Cowdenbeath as Fife?s very own Kingdom Brass has just returned triumphant from the 86th Senior Trophy Contest held at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.
Kingdom is Fife?s only Championship Section band and has competed all over the U.K and Europe in the last few years against some of the world?s best bands.They won in Blackpool in a section of 20 competing bands from all over the U.K. with a ?stirring? and ?technically superior? performance of Dr Peter Graham?s testpiece, "Essence of Time".
For all of their hard work and practise they picked up a superb trophy and ?600 in prize money to add to the band?s funds and Craig Anderson (of whom the adjudicators said ?The conductor is expert in finding right tempo, balance and style?) won the top Conductor prize for his superb interpretation of the testpiece.
The band of 28 players plus their conductor Craig Anderson travelled down to Blackpool on Friday night as the competition commenced at 10am with the draw for playing positions, where they were drawn to play in 6th place out of the 20 bands.
After a brief rehearsal in the morning at a hired club Craig gave the band a last minute run through the music and some final words of advice then they were off to the venue which was the Spanish Hall in the Winter Gardens.
Kingdom were hoping to improve on their 5th place finish of last year and felt confident in their performance despite only having had 3 weeks to prepare the test piece. As it transpired their confidence was not misplaced and the professional adjudicators Mr James Gourlay and Mr Malcolm Brownbill saw ?Superb crafting? and ?An object lesson in balance? in their performance.
Scotsman, James Gourlay, is a world renowned tuba soloist and a professional conductor who travels the world directing top class bands and orchestras. He teaches in Lyon, Weimar, The Julliard School of Music and the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts and he is the Musical Director of Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band of Floral Dance fame.
Malcolm Brownbill is a performer, conductor and adjudicator whose wide musical experience has embraced military bands, orchestras and choirs and has conducted brass bands with prolific success since 1974. He is one of the movement?s most active adjudicators, having officiated at numerous events throughout Europe and the U.K.
Kingdom now holds the exclusive title as the only Scottish band ever to win this coveted title in the 86 year history of the competition.
They now have 4 weeks to prepare for their next contest, which is the West Lothian Challenge.
The reason for the short preparation time for the contest is that the band has only just returned to the U.K. from a tour of Germany where they were hailed as Scotland?s new musical ambassadors on the European scene with sell-out concerts in some of the country?s most prestigious venues.
