Brass at the
Academy
December 2015
An update from Mark David, Head of Brass
So what has being a student at the
Academy got in common with playing
rugby? And no, I’m not talking about the
scrum at the bar at the end of an evening
concert in the Duke’s Hall!
As I write we are at the end of an
incredible Autumn term for the brass
department. The Academy is always
busy with a diary of events packed with
an extraordinary variety of activities but
even by our standards the past term has
been exceptional.
As the final chord of Scriabin’s Poem
of Ecstasy conducted by Yan Pascal
Tortelier echoed through the building
(in fact it still seems to be echoing
four days later...), I reflected on the
contribution of the brass in a thrilling
performance and drew parallels with
the awesome New Zealand All Blacks in
the recent Rugby World Cup. Inspiring
individual performances by the section
leaders, supported by sections willing to
put their own egos aside in pursuit of the
ultimate team performance and glory.
The analogy doesn’t stop there either.
One of the most enjoyable aspects of
being Head of Brass at the Academy is
witnessing the supportive teamwork in
the band room, sectionals and auditions
that lead to those performances. The All
Blacks have a team ethos that eschews
prima donnas and demands even its star
players mop the dressing room after a
match. The precarious nature of playing
a brass instrument with the inherent
obviousness of any mistake generally
means that brass players as a breed are
less prone to prima donna behaviour
than most. Sir Simon Rattle advises
‘You never eyeball a horn player, you just
don’t! They are stuntmen (or women)’.
The comments and feedback I receive
from visitors and other members of staff
invariably confirm that Academy brass
students are a great bunch to work with.
The list of visitors who gave
masterclasses in the past term reads
like a who’s who of the brass world.
Jeroen Berwaerts, Ian Bousfield,
Reinhold Friedrich, Pasi Pirinen,
Weston Sprott, Jorgen Van Rijen and
Radovan Vlatkovic’ complemented our
list of distinguished regular professors
to provide Academy brass students
with world class tuition and guidance.
It started with a three-day visit by
Pasi Pirinen, Principal Trumpet of the
Helsinki Philharmonic and Professor at
the Sibelius Academy. Pasi’s calm,
quiet but authoritative approach was
ideal for the first week of term, allowing
new students to settle in and find their
feet. A week or so later we welcomed
Jeroen Berwaerts, International soloist
and Professor at the Hochschule in
Hanover. Jeroen gave two days of
classes covering solo repertoire and
shared his unique approach to warming
up which included extensive use of the
singing voice and yoga. We are already
planning exciting future concert projects
following his inspirational visit. In the
same week we welcomed Weston
Sprott, trombonist with the Metropolitan
Opera in New York, who gave a class on
operatic orchestral repertoire working
with trombone students on audition
excerpts and in sectionals.
The brass open day featured numerous
events culminating in a concert of
Scandinavian music by Symphonic
Brass in which I shared the conducting
with Elgar Howarth. We repeated this
concert in Regent Hall the following day
to rave reviews. The fact that we could
present such a difficult programme so
near to the start of term was testament
to the enthusiasm of the students and
their determination to hit the ground
running from the first day of term.
Edward Gardner conducted a thrilling
performance of Elgar 2 and I was
delighted to hear from Ed himself that
the brass distinguished themselves with
refined sonority and clarity of articulation.
Only a week later we were treated to
stellar brass playing in Brahms 1 and
The Meistersinger Overture conducted
by Robin Ticciati, and at the end of
October our brass and woodwind
students joined together for a
performance of John Adams’s
Grand Pianola Music conducted by
the composer.
The John Solomon Brass prize was
won by Tom Scaife with a bravura
performance of Enrique Crespo’s
Improvisation No.1 over a competitive
field playing a wide variety of very
challenging repertoire.
International Visiting Professors
Reinhold Friedrich, Jörgen Van Rijen
and Radovan Vlatkovic’ taught oneto-one lessons and group sessions for
all trumpeters, trombonists and horn
players. These termly visits, over a period
of more than five years, have given
Academy brass students the opportunity
to form close working relationships
with our visiting professors and in turn
enabled the professors to play an integral
part in the students’ development.
The brass ensemble were in action again
at Buckingham Palace to open a gala
dinner hosted by HRH The Duchess of
Gloucester. Gwyn Owen and Jason
Lewis dazzled the assembled dignitaries
and guests with feats of digital and dental
dexterity in Canzon Duodecimo Toni à 10
by Giovanni Gabrieli.
Anyone in the Marylebone area on
8th November would have noticed a
veritable stampede of 80 young horn
players who joined with our students
and professors Michael Thompson and
Richard Watkins for the Horn Club day.
All Blacks image: Shutterstock
Anna Drysdale performed Villanelle
by Dukas and received a new Paxman
Horn as winner of the Bob Paxman
competition. There were performances
by the horn ensembles from both the
Junior and Senior Academies, who
combined for a massed forces finale.
Cloudcatcher Fells on 12th February.
Oliver Knussen returns on 18th February
for a performance of Stravinsky’s A
Soldier’s Tale, which will also be recorded
for a future CD release on Linn records.
French trumpet virtuoso Eric Aubier
makes his annual visit on 19th February.
Mike Lovatt, our Derek Watkins Chair
of Trumpet, directed an intriguing concert
of original brass music written by jazz
legend Kenny Wheeler in the Duke’s Hall.
The students also received coaching from
Nick Smart (Head of Jazz and author of
a forthcoming book on Kenny Wheeler)
and leading jazz soloist Noel Langley
for this project.
As we approach the annual audition
period, I would like to wish all prospective
students the very best of luck. I hope
that this newsletter has given you a
glimpse of what life is like in the brass
department at the Royal Academy of
Music.
The last week of term was certainly no
gentle wind down. It included a virtuoso
performance of Berio’s Sequenza X by
Gwyn Owen, a sensitive rendition of the
Beethoven Septet featuring horn player
Hannah Key and the barn-storming final
Friday concert already mentioned, with
the brass led by Chris Hart.
Looking ahead to the Spring term,
the diary entices with plenty to keep
students practising alongside the
revelries over Christmas. On 15th
January, Semyon Bychkov conducts
Tchaikovsky’s Francesca de Rimini and
Strauss’s Don Juan — and a week later
Christian Thielemann directs Strauss’s
Tod und Verklärung. Two of the world’s
top conductors, directing repertoire for
which they are rightly renowned, with
juicy brass parts.
Reinhold Friedrich, always inspiring and
entertaining, returns on 29th January.
The Academy’s brass ensembles
have two projects. On 5th February
Oliver Knussen conducts an eagerly
anticipated performance of Schuller’s
Symphony for brass. I’ll conduct a
programme that includes Holst’s
Moorside Suite, Ray Premru’s Music
from Harter Fell and John McCabe’s
With best wishes
Mark David