Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all from Phoenix Brass. We had a successful year December carolling in Crewkerne and Taunton and are very grateful to all who donated money to the band over the festive period.

Rehearsals are about to start again for our biggest contest of the year, the West of England Areas. For those new to banding this is the contest result which goes towards determining our national ranking. The second section piece this year is Goff Richard's Cross Patonce and will provde the band with a lot to work on over the coming months. The adjudicators on the day will be Tony Swainson and Chris Wormald and you can read more about them below. We look forward to seeing our regular supporters at the contest.

Tony Swainson

GRSM, ARMCM (performer), ARMCM (teacher) is a graduate of the Royal Manchester College of Music, now the RNCM, where he studied tuba, piano and composition.

He made his professional debut with the Halle Orchestra under Barbirolli in 1968. Having freelanced with various orchestras and ensembles in NW England he moved to Scotland as principal Tuba with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra 3 years later. Shortly afterwards in 1972 he begun his long association with the RSAMD, becoming the Academy’s first specialist tuba teacher. Away from his BBC commitments he also played with all the other professional orchestras in Scotland. In December 1997 he decided to relinquish his BBCSSO position to spend more time teaching, conducting and composing/arranging.

As a conductor Tony has enjoyed considerable success with Scotland's elite brass bands as well as several in England and Norway. He has appeared at all of the major competitions throughout Great Britain and Scandinavia both as a conductor and as an adjudicator, enjoying prize winning performances with the Whitburn Band at the prestigious European Brass Band Championships. Tony has also directed professional string and wind ensembles for the BBC and has numerous TV, radio and commercial recordings to his credit.  

At the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama he is a senior brass lecturer and professor of Tuba.  Many of his students now hold positions with orchestras around the world. Tony also frequently directs the Academy's various wind and brass ensembles.  Elsewhere he is often seen tutoring the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland and has directed the NYOS Easter repertoire course.

Chris Wormald has adjudicated all over the World since 1991, specialising in Championship Section and major contests since 2004. These include the English National Championships twice (The Lowry 2006, Preston Guildhall 2008), the Scottish Open twice (2004 and 2008), Grand Shield twice (Senior Cup and Senior Trophy), National Brass Band Finals in Harrogate, Brass In Concert, Yorkshire, North West, Scottish, Midlands and London Area Contests on many occasions, Muse Festival (Singapore), Pontins, Wilkinson Northern Open, Carnegie Trust, NWCBBA Preston Guildhall, Durham Association, Leicestershire Association, BBL (Northern Ireland), Scottish Borders, Buxton, Weston-Super-Mare, National Eisteddfod of Wales, Easingwold, Skipton, Fleetwood, Ebbw Vale, Hardraw Scar, Minsthorpe, Morley, Rhyl and the British Open Solo & Quartet Championships.

Now 50 years of age, Chris has been conducting brass bands for 30 years. It is two decades since he first conducted Brighouse & Rastrick at the Leek Arts Festival, 1998 when he made his conducting debut as MD of Wingates at the British Open and Masters contests and since 2007 he has conducted Grimethorpe Colliery in concerts ranging from South Wales to Reading Town Hall. He has been a long time member of the National Association of Brass Band Adjudicators (A.B.B.A.) and National Association of Brass Band Conductors (N.A.B.B.C.) and has won numerous contests, competitions, festivals and awards as a conductor, horn player, teacher and arranger.

Chris has been an Assistant Headteacher at Smithills School in Bolton since 2003 and prior to that was Director of Music at Smithills from 1990, the year he also joined James Shepherd Versatile Brass. He is formerly a member of the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain alongside Ian Bousefield, Nick Childs and Steven Mead, playing under Harry Mortimer at Belle Vue, and was Head of Brass Instrumental Teaching for Bolton MBC from 1983 to 1990, during which time he also taught at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. At the 1998 British Open, Chris was presented with the Mortimer Medal from the Worshipful Company of Musicians on stage at Symphony Hall in Birmingham. He formed his internationally renowned Smithills School Senior Brass Band in 1992, since when they have won over fifty major national competitions. He has conducted Smithills all over the World, from Norway to New Zealand and Japan to the USA (four times) in addition to eight times at the Royal Albert Hall in London. As an orchestral horn player, Chris made his professional London debut in the Philharmonia Orchestra at The Barbican in 2003 after two decades of freelancing throughout the UK.

In 2001 Chris was named Classic FM Music Teacher of The Year at a lavish ceremony in London, since when he has won both the Brian Hicks Memorial and Gerald Taylor Awards for continued outstanding dedication to brass bands. His arrangements for band have been published by Wright & Round and Studio Music but since 2007 by Obrasso (Switzerland). Chris has been booked for a number of high profile adjudications in 2012 and will once again tour America with Smithills Senior Brass Band leading upto the Olympics in July.

Released On 3rd Jan 2012