The National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain’s ambassador ensemble provided part of the entertainment for the prestigious Gramophone 2022 Classical Music Awards.

Held at the Grand Connaught Rooms in London on 4 October, the prestigious awards are regarded as the industry ‘Oscars’ and are supported by a raft of high-profile sponsors.

Honoured

Speaking about the latest recognition, Mark Bromley, CEO of the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain said: “We were honoured to be invited by the Gramophone Classical Music Award organisers to open the ceremony.

We did it in some style too with a special arrangement by Dr Robert Childs, who conducted the 11 piece ensemble of current and recent alumni, of James Curnow’s rousing ‘Fanfare and Flourishes’.

It was a remarkable evening to be involved in, and the interest that the ensemble created with the invited world class artists and leading industry figures showed just how impressed people were.”

Shoulder to shoulder

Mark Bromley added: “We were one of a handful of artists who performed through the evening including the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Artist of the Year soprano Barbara Hannigan, pianist Betrand Chamayou and Young Artist of the Year violinist Johan Dalene.

To perform shoulder to shoulder in that company made for a memorable experience for our performers. We are deeply honoured to have been invited.”

The Blue Riband presentations saw the great pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim accept the ‘Lifetime Achievement’ accolade, whilst Canadian conductor Barbara Hannigan was declared ‘Artist of the Year’ and the Budapest Festival Orchestra taking the ‘Orchestra of the Year’ prize.

The ‘Recording of the Year’ prize went to Korngold’s ‘Die Tote Stadt’, whilst the Chandos Recording label, founded by Brian Couzens in 1979, and which has supported several brass band recordings over the years secured the ‘Label of the Year’ accolade.

The Spatial Audio award was also claimed by the Chandos label for its CD production of Ravel: Orchestral Works conducted by John Wilson with the Sinfonia of London.