ONYX BRASS

News

5* review for Transatlantic

Great to see Transatlantic receive another glowing review, this time from the specialist brass website, 4 Bars Rest. The review is punctuated with fantastic descriptions of the music and of the interpretations that we brought to the recording. A favourite is; His [Joseph Horovitz] subtle characterisations of the skills of the dance hall performers and…

Holocene Live Recording Released

16th July 2025 sees the release of NMC Recordings’ live recording of Holocene, our New Music Biennial 2025 collaboration with Ailís Ní Ríain. Recorded live at Bradford Cathedral, Ní Ríain describes it as ‘an evocative and unconventional work for professional brass quintet, community brass and bowed cymbals, weaving raw and intricate soundscapes that push the…

Transatlantic Reviewed in Gramophone

Its always good to receive reviews from the press and we are especially humbled to receive glowing praise from the Gramophone Magazine, one of the premier music publications.

Onyx Brass at the Aldeburgh Festival 2025

What a great time we had at the Aldeburgh Festival. Not only did we give the world premiere of Benjamin Britten’s Funeral completed by Bernard Hughes, we were joined by students of Royal College of Music on both days, raising it to another level. This weekend wouldn’t have been the success it was. Huge thanks…

World Premiere of Britten’s Funeral Music

This Sunday 29th June sees us giving the world premiere of Benjamin Britten’s Funeral Music, a work that has been completed from fragments that live in the Britten Pears Archive in Aldeburgh by composer Bernard Hughes. Though similar in scoring, this is a different piece from the Russian Funeral for Brass and Percussion. It is…

Transatlantic Arrives on 27th June

We are pleased to announce that our latest collaboration with Chandos Records and John Wilson, Transatlantic will release on 27th June. Composers featured are John Adams, Sir Malcolm Arnold, Leonard Bernstein, Benjamin Britten, George Gershwin, Joseph Horovitz, Gordon Langford, Florence Price, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Sir William Walton. As is always our focus, many of…

The Guardian Review for Bradford NMB Weekend

Take a read of the full 4* review from our visit to the NMB Bradford weekend. “Growling through the trombone is a new one for me,” admitted one musician between performances of Ailís Ní Ríain’s work Holocene. Bradford Cathedral echoed with squawks, rattles and primordial grumbling as the combined forces of Onyx Brass and Hammonds Band conjured Ní Ríain’s…