Contest Prelude

An afternoon of serious and not so serious music will be held Sunday 10 July at Westlake Girls High School Event Centre as four brass bands perform at Contest Prelude a wide selection of music for the 2022 NZ Brass Band Championships to be held in Wellington the week after. In the youth section a new combination of youth players from the North Shore and central Auckland get to perform under the fun banner of the Auckland Brass Bandits. Josh Rogan is sub-principal trumpet with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and has trained these students over several months in preparation. The up and coming North Shore Brass Academy Band are about to perform in their second ever championships and this will be in the D grade under Andrew Leech. Local teacher Mark Close then leads Auckland City Brass who are competing in the B grade – they will play a sacred item, set test (Aotearoa – Philip Sparke) and their own choice selection. To finish the afternoon Auckland’s champion band North Shore Brass under Harmen Vanhoorne will explore repertoire chosen for the highly competitive A grade section including the A grade test Heroes by Bruce Borthwick. This massive piece of music celebrates the 50th anniversary of the incredible Apollo 11 moon landings . Come along to support any or all the bands.