On Thursday, 3rd of May, Brass Band Willebroek left for the European Brass Band Championships 2018 in Utrecht. After a short trip the band arrived at their hotel. On Thursday as well on Friday there were still some rehearsals planned.
Friday evening it was time to give their shot on the set test piece, Time for Outrage! by Marco Pütz. Brass Band Willebroek entered the stage as band number six of the evening, after top bands as Valaisia Brass Band and Cory Band. Their performance didn’t passed without a few slips but they defended them really well in this strong participants field.
On Saturday it was time for BBW to play their own choice piece, Destination Moon from the mysterious composer Paul Raphael. Brass Band Willebroek had to play as band number 8 from the day. BBW immediately charmed the audience with their music from the first note. After their performance they really deserved the applause the audience was giving them. What a performance full of music!
Steven Mead, commentary for 4barsrest, placed Brass Band Willebroek on the first place with their own choice performance. It was clear that Willebroek could compete with the greatest bands of Europe. In the evening it was time for the proclamation where the prizes were divided. The band had a lot of nerves, were their performances enough to compete for the prizes? Brass Band Willebroek ended on the fourth place with a total points of 187. Last year in Ostend Willebroek also secured a fourth place. It is the 11th time in a row that Brass Band Willebroek ends in the top 4 on the European Championships! Brass Band Willebroek went home with 2000 euros on prize money and 500 euros on sheet music.
Results
Championship Section:
Adjudicators: Set Work: Jan de Haan, Dr Joseph Parisi, Ian Porthouse Own Choice: Russell Gray, Blaise Heritier, Erik Janssen
Test Piece: Time for Outrage (Marco Putz adapted by Paul McGhee)
(Draw): Set Work/Own Choice = Total
1. Valaisia Brass Band (Arsene Duc) (4/12) 96/99 = 195 The Turing Test (Simon Dobson)
2. Cory (Philip Harper) (5/4) 98/96 = 194 Symphonic Study for Brass Band: Jazz (Philip Wilby)
3. Stavanger (Allan Withington) (9/1) 95/94 = 189 Goldberg 2012 (Svein H. Giske)
4. Brass Band Willebroek (Frans Violet) (6/8) 92/95 = 187* Destination Moon (Paul Raphael)
5. Eikanger-Bjorsvik Musikklag (Ingar Bergby)(1/2) 90/97 = 187* Partita for Band (Wilfred Heaton)
6. Hauts-de-France (Luc Vertommen) (8/7) 89/98 = 187* Perihelion Closer to the Sun (Philip Sparke)
7. Whitburn (Professor Nicholas Childs) (12/10) 94/92 = 186 Metropolis 1927 (Peter Graham)
8. Brass Band De Waldsang (Rieks der Velde) (3/6) 91/90 = 180 Fraternity (Thierry Deleruylle)
9. Fairey (Garry Cutt) (7/3) 87/88 = 175* Defiance (Andy Scott
10. 3BA Concert (Thomas Ludescher) (11/9) 86/89 = 175* Fraternity (Thierry Deleruylle)
11. Brass Band Froschl Hall (Corsin Tuor) (10/11) 88/86 = 174 Hypercube (Oliver Waespi)
12. Concord (Jesper Juul Windahl) (2/5) 85/87 =172 Actaeon (Gareth Wood)
Best Soloist: Lilian Meurin (euphonium) — Hauts-de-France
*Points awarded for the set-test takes precedence in case of equal overall marks