Category: Article

Courtesy of ODT – 14 July, 2010.

Three Dunedin musicians are national champions after the New Zealand Brass Band Championships in Dunedin at the weekend.

The triumph was all the more remarkable for Rose Evans (16), of St Kilda Brass, who won the junior flugelhorn section at her first attempt.

“I was really pleased. It was my first national title and my first national competition,” she said yesterday.

At the other end of the scale, Fred Knopp (82), of St Kilda Brass, won the masters (75-84) cornet for the fourth time.

“I usually mainly get seconds and thirds, so it was nice to get a first,” he said.

John Lewis (36), representing Daelwool Auckland Brass, won his fourth open championship cornet title.

“It’s been a difficult couple of years. There’s been a lot of upheaval in my life, but things are settling down again and I’m really pleased with the way I’m playing at the moment,” he said yesterday.

“I’ve got a busy year ahead with CD recordings and concerts in Auckland and more contests in Australia later in the year.

Somewhere in between, I hope to fit in a few concerts here in Dunedin.”

Other successes for local musicians were. -Tim Walsh, of St Kilda Brass, was second in the open tenor trombone; Rene Spoors, of St Kilda Brass, was third in open Eb bass; and John McAdam, representing Pelorus Trust Wellington Brass, was third in the open baritone section.

The 130th New Zealand Brass Band Championships featured 27 bands and nearly 1000 musicians.
Nigel Benson – ODT

Courtesy of ODT – 29 July, 2009,

Three Dunedin secondary school pupils may need more than a couple of band-aids when they head to Burnham Military Camp later this year for the New Zealand Secondary Schools Brass Band.

Gregory Thomson (John McGlashan College), Kalie Eathorne-Gould (Kavanagh College) and Rose Evans (Bayfield High School) are among the 47-strong band which will meet in September.

The course is available to the best secondary school players available for each instrument. Gregory (15) was selected to play Repiano Cornet, Kalie (16) was selected to play 2nd Cornet and Rose (15) will play 1st Flugel.

Not only will they receive musical training from leading members of the New Zealand Army Band, they will also be put through their paces in the field and train on the same concourse as New Zealand’s military personnel at Burnham during the week-long course.

The band’s members will also be given master-classes on conducting and arranging music for brass bands, but the main goal for the ensemble will be to prepare for a concert with the New Zealand Army Band at the Christchurch Town Hall for the city’s primary school pupils.

The trio join a long line of prominent brass musicians who made their humble beginnings in the NZSSBB and went on to play in some of the world’s top musical ensembles.
John Lewis – ODT