Sky Arts to showcase Battle of the Brass Bands
The Championship Section Final of the 2018 National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain will heavily feature in a newly-commissioned Sky Arts programme, to be aired in August/September this year. Please read the full Press Release from Sky Arts below.
PRESS RELEASE FROM SKY ARTS - BATTLE OF THE BRASS BANDS
A brand new and uplifting four-part docuseries has been announced by Sky Arts that will follow Britain’s biggest and most celebrated brass bands and their larger-than-life members as they prepare to compete in some of Britain’s most prestigious Brass Band competitions.
Battle of the Brass Bands is made by award-winning production company Twofour on behalf of Sky Arts and will showcase the extraordinary talents of some of the most skilled brass band players across the country. Each episode will document the highs and the lows of the featured brass bands as they go head-to-head against each other and their competitors.
Will it be Brighouse & Rastrick or the Fairey Band that triumph at the Whit Friday contest? Can Rhondda Valley’s Cory defend its title at the oldest musical contest in the world; The British Open? Who will reign victorious at the National Championships of Great Britain at The Royal Albert Hall? And how will the UK’s top Brass Bands fair against the US’s number one The Fountain City Brass Band at the Brass in Concert competition in Gateshead?
This extraordinary new series will air from 20 August 2019 on Sky Arts, the UK’s only TV channel dedicated to arts, music and culture, and will also be available for streaming on NOW TV.
Speaking about this new, uplifting series, Phil Edgar-Jones Director of Sky Arts said: “We are delighted to be presenting Battle of the Brass Bands on Sky Arts in August, Brass Bands are one of the longest-running music traditions in British history and we are looking forward to celebrating and highlighting the role that Brass Bands play in our cultural landscape, and to display the high level of skill and dedication that these musicians give to their art”.
Speaking about the new series, Twofour Neil Edwards, Head of Specialist Factual Programming at Twofour Broadcast and Series Director said “Making these films was a total privilege and an absolute revelation. If you think the world of Brass Bands is all flat caps and whippets, think again. These are amateur musicians playing to an Olympic standard. The competition pieces feature some of the finest and technically challenging music I’ve ever heard, presented in some of Britain’s most prestigious and iconic venues. I challenge anyone to experience the thrill of these competitions and not be converted into a brass fan for the rest of their lives. I’m delighted that Sky Arts have chosen to highlight this talented, fiercely competitive, frighteningly committed and completely unique community of British musicians.”
Battle of the Brass Bands is commissioned for Sky Arts by Shirley Jones, and produced by Twofour, with David Clews as Executive Producer, Gill Hennessy as Series Producer and Neil Edwards as Series Director.
