Onyx Brass turns 20 this year, and the party has already started! During the first half of the year, we’re celebrating with other young people in a series of family concerts and evening concerts withMusic in the Round, who specialise in providing informal performances by great musicians. That suits us down to the ground, and…
…just like the ones I used to know. If there’s anything that sounds like Christmas to me, it’s probably a brass band playing carols. We’re always quite busy around this time of year – we’ve already played two concerts with choirs (Laudate and Eltham Choral Society), and we’ve got a very busy day coming up…
Back in July we took part in the excellent Durham International Brass Festival. Not only did we enjoy every moment but along with the help and expertise of James Stretton we have made and posted 3 video clips from our concert in Brancepeth Church. We think they are rather good (obviously) but what do you…
On September 25th 2012 at the Richmond Concert Society we will be giving the premiere of The Madness Industry by Cheryl Frances-Hoad. This is one of our major new commissions this year and we are very excited about it. On first look it will be an excellent and challenging addition to our repertoire. This is…
For our upcoming Purcell Room concert BBC trombonist Dan Jenkins has written us a new non-brass piece. After rehearsing it we think it’s going to be great if a little daunting! Here is what Dan himself has to say about it. “Brass playing is a taxing business, so in January 2012, Onyx Brass asked me…
Our tour to Ireland is getting very close and rehearsals are going well. One of the highlights of the trip will be performing our new commission by Andrew Hamilton, slow phrases piece. We asked him for a few thoughts about it: “Often it takes months to find material that resonates but with this piece it came…
During our time together as an ensemble we have had the very good fortune to meet a lot of amazing, lovely and talented people. Often their efforts and work goes unnoticed and unrewarded, whether by bad luck or design. In Cheddar, Somerset on the 6th February, Onyx led a workshop with young brass players from…
