Experience the power, colour and joy of brass music with The National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain. For over 70 years, The NYBBGB has nurtured Britain’s brightest young brass and percussion talent, providing world-class musical education, performance opportunities and mentorship. Following three sell-out concerts in 2025 and two sell-0ut Easter concerts earlier this year, The NYBBGB – comprising over 90 of the country’s most talented young musicians – returns to the stage for this summer’s spectacular performance.
Tickets for this concert can be booked here.
The National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain comes to Bath for a spectacular evening of music-making at The Forum on Saturday 8th August 2026, under the direction of guest conductor Lieutenant Colonel Lauren Petritz-Watts and featuring internationally acclaimed guest soloist Ross Knight (tuba).
Following three sell-out concerts in 2025 and two sell-out Easter concerts earlier this year, The NYBBGB Youth Band — featuring more than 90 of the UK’s finest young brass and percussion players — will perform for one night only after an intensive week of rehearsals and tuition at Taunton School.
The concert theme is “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle“, explored through a musical journey that reflects sustainability, transformation and renewal. The programme considers how music can mirror environmental responsibility through the reworking of existing musical ideas, the reinvention of classical repertoire in new forms and the creative reuse of materials both within performance and composition. Across the evening, audiences are invited to experience how the brass band tradition can engage meaningfully with contemporary environmental themes, using music to reflect on regeneration, memory and innovation.
Presented with the generous support of World of Brass, a division of The Salvation Army Trading Company Limited.
Programme Highlights
The evening opens with Jacob Vilhelm Larsen’s ‘Ad Astra’, an uplifting and contemporary work whose title translates as ‘to the stars’, celebrating aspiration, progress and human potential. The programme also features Ralph Vaughan Williams’ much-loved ‘Concerto for Tuba in F Minor’ in a new brass band arrangement by Philip Littlemore, performed by internationally acclaimed guest soloist Ross Knight. Originally written for orchestra in 1954, this new interpretation breathes fresh life into a classic work, reflecting the concert’s theme of reuse and reinvention.
Themes of reflection and renewal continue in Liz Lane’s lyrical ‘Serenata for Brass Band’, written in memory of a much-loved band member and celebrating the enduring community spirit of brass banding. The NYBBGB’s ongoing commitment to innovation is showcased in the world première of ‘MACHINE!’ by Simon Dobson, a brand-new commission inspired by environmental responsibility, sustainability and the relationship between humanity and industry.
The concert also includes the world première of ‘In Memorium: E.H.’ by Martyn Brabbins, current President of The NYBBGB, written in tribute to former Artistic Director and President Elgar Howarth, honouring his lasting influence on British brass music. Johan de Meij’s spectacular ‘Extreme Makeover’ brings the programme to an exhilarating conclusion. Inspired by themes from Tchaikovsky transformed through continuous musical metamorphosis, the work perfectly embodies the concert theme of transformation and reuse, even incorporating tuned bottles within the percussion section to create unique recycled sound-worlds.
Together, the programme explores how music can reimagine existing ideas, preserve heritage and inspire new thinking — celebrating creativity, sustainability and the future of brass band music.
About the Guest Conductor
A former member of The NYBBGB, Lieutenant Colonel Lauren Petritz-Watts studied euphonium at the Royal Northern College of Music under Robert Childs and Steven Mead and quickly established herself as an outstanding performer and conductor. During her studies she was a semi-finalist in the prestigious Leonard Falcone International Euphonium Competition in the USA and a founding member of the award-winning Euph4ria Tuba Quartet, performing at major venues and festivals across the UK and Europe.
Lauren currently serves as Principal Director of Music (Army) within the Royal Corps of Army Music and has held senior conducting appointments with several of the British Army’s leading bands, including the Band of the Welsh Guards, the Band and Bugles of The Rifles and the Band of the Royal Logistic Corps. Her conducting career has included major state ceremonial occasions such as the Funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth II, the Coronation of HM King Charles III and Trooping the Colour, alongside performances at the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, Basel Tattoo, the FA Cup Final and numerous international concerts and festivals.
Passionate about youth music and music education, Lauren has remained a strong advocate for the next generation of brass and military musicians throughout her career, making her return to conduct The NYBBGB especially meaningful.
About the Guest Soloist
Ross Knight is internationally recognised as one of the leading tuba players of his generation. Currently Solo Tuba with Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and International Visiting Tutor at the Royal Northern College of Music, he has performed with many of the world’s foremost orchestras including the Berliner Philharmoniker, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich.
A former Principal Tuba of both the European Union Youth Orchestra and Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, Ross first gained national recognition as Overall Winner of the BBC Radio 2 Young Brass Award in 2012. Since then, he has built an international reputation as both a soloist and educator, appearing with leading brass bands and orchestras throughout Europe and recording widely acclaimed concerto performances including Ralph Vaughan Williams’ ‘Tuba Concerto’.
Alongside his performing career, Ross is in demand as a teacher and masterclass tutor at major conservatoires across Europe and has worked extensively with youth brass organisations including the Australian Youth Orchestra, National Youth Brass Bands of Scotland and Nationale Jugend Brass Band der Schweiz. His appearance with The NYBBGB brings one of the brass world’s most respected and inspiring artists to the concert stage in Bath.