Bumper concerts finale to NYBBS week of intense music making and fun!
Wednesday 9 August 2023The week-long National Youth Brass Band of Scotland (NYBBS) summer course came to an end at the weekend in a blaze of glory and adulation.
Not only did the young players put on two captivating concerts in Perth Concert Hall on Saturday afternoon and evening, the more experienced instrumentalists in the Reserve and Senior bands entertained the crowds during the opening events of this year’s Edinburgh International Festival.
EIF director Nicola Benedetti addresses the large crowds at the festival’s opening event. The NYBBS band is on the right of the photograph.
On Saturday afternoon, the Reserve players joined over a dozen other music organisations to bring a variety of listening experiences to the occasion.
Festival director Nicola Benedetti had fused together brass bands and pipers, rappers and choirs in a diverse community of Scotland’s young musicians for an energetic afternoon of music making on a huge stage in the city centre’s Princes Street Gardens.
The NYBBS Senior band takes the applause after their concert in Perth Concert Hall...
... and after their performance in Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh.
On Sunday the Senior instrumentalists performed alongside the Grit Orchestra to the acclaim of the assembled crowds – and a special interested onlooker, the Duke of Edinburgh himself, HRH Prince Edward!
The Duke spoke to members of the band after their concert (below), much to the delight of the players and their supporters.
The whole weekend was the perfect finale to a thoroughly intense, enjoyable and fun-filled five days of music making at Strathallan School. The young musicians have made so many memories that will live with them for years to come.
(Many thanks to SBBA social media editor James McGoldrick for his reportage and photographs throughout NYBBS week.)
