Month March 2020

As a first foray into composition in 1987, acclaimed conductor David Whitwell created a two-movement, 11 minute-long symphony for band depicting the "dark side of the Viennese Waltz."

On the 14 July 1790, at the Festival of the Federation in Paris, François-Joseph Gossec performed his Te Deum in front of an audience of 400,000 and forever changed the instrumentation of the concert band.

Ponchielli's arrangement of The Carnival of Venice, composed for band in 1868, is a tour de force for the whole ensemble, not just one soloist.

In 1845, in an effort to gain a contract to supply instruments to the French military, the bands of Adolphe Sax and Michele Carafa competed against each other in front of an audience of 20,000 people.

Did Beethoven compose any music for band? Find out about Beethoven's works for band we've forgotten, and hear the real story behind his work Wellington's Victory.