Tickets go on sale for Durham Brass 2025
Musical adventures on the agenda for annual big brass bash
Sound a fanfare for Durham Brass Festival, returning in July with an appealing array of headliners which includes celebrated newcomers and returnees.
With tickets on sale from today (Friday, March 21) we can all prepare for a big brass wallow beside the Wear.
Most of the performances will take place at Gala Durham and at Redhills Durham Miners’ Hall.
First up at Redhills on July 14 is Barry Hyde, best known as frontman of The Futureheads but here performing his solo album Miners’ Ballads with the Durham Miners’ Association Brass Band.
The album, commissioned by Sunderland City Council and American arts curator and longtime supporter Paul Emerson, draws its inspiration from Barry’s research into the region’s mining heritage.
One of the tracks, Trimdon Grange 1882, pays tribute to two of his young ancestors, teenagers Thomas and Joseph who were killed in the mining disaster of that year which is also recalled in a poem called The Trimdon Grange Explosion by Tommy Armstrong, the ‘Pitman’s Poet’.
“Playing with brass is a big challenge because it involves having to re-learn a lot of what you do,” says Barry.
“But for me, the opportunity to perform with maybe 30-plus additional musicians who are all trying to embellish these songs is an absolute privilege.
“What a fantastic opportunity to showcase this record. I’m absolutely over the moon.”
On July 15, Bill Ryder-Jones will give a headline performance at the Gala Durham theatre of his critically acclaimed album from last year, Iechyd Da (it means ‘good health’ in Welsh – Ryder-Jones comes from West Kirby, on the Wirral but just across the River Dee from Wales).
Formerly lead guitarist with The Coral, Ryder-Jones went solo in 2008. He will perform Iechyd Da with the NASUWT Riverside Brass, having been commissioned by the festival for a “bold reimagining” featuring brass.
“This is huge,” he said.
“The Riverside Band are huge and evidently very historic. I’ve never worked with anything remotely close to that.
“Brass can be a very emotional experience. I heard that when Richard Hawley played the festival he was quite overwhelmed by playing with a brass band. I imagine he’s not a man who sheds many tears.”
It should be added that no alpacas are expected on stage in Durham.
Those who saw Poet Laureate Simon Armitage and the band LYR perform Firm As A Rock We Stand in Durham Cathedral back in 2022 will be delighted to see a repeat performance at Redhills on July 18.
For those who missed it then, here’s another chance with LYR joined by Easington Colliery Brass Band.
The piece recalls the tragedy which befell the so-called Category D mining villages of County Durham, those deemed to have no future.
Also present to read will be poet Ian McMillan, presenter of The Verb, on BBC Radio 4, for which this festival event is being recorded.
Brassed On (Gala Durham, July 19) sees North East musicians paired with brass ensembles.
This year they include singer-songwriter Liz Corney, founder member of The Cornshed Sisters, Durham-based rap specialists Faithful Johannes & Neocia and Amateur Ornithologist whose members are neurodivergent and musically multi-talented, fusing sounds from different genres.
This concert is presented in partnership with BBC Music Introducing and NARC Magazine.
Also performing on July 19 at the New Victoria Centre, Howden-le-Wear, Crook, will be the Stanhope Silver Band with the ‘mighty’ Wurlitzer of the North East Theatre Organ Association (NETOA).
Sure to be a sell-out at Gala Durham on July 20 (a Sunday afternoon concert) is The Fairey Band performing an arrangement of Mussorgsky’s piano and orchestral suite, Pictures at An Exhibition – complete with animated ‘interpretation’.
That audio-visual feast is to be the climax of a concert which will begin with a series of brass favourites featuring the soloists of the renowned band, formed in 1937 at the Fairey aircraft factory in Stockport.
The Fairey Band will be back on stage in the evening with a festival first – a performance of 1990s Acid House anthems under the banner Acid Brass.
This unlikely – but hugely popular – musical fusion is the brainchild of Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller.
Billed as a “genre-defying spectacle”, the evening also promises a DJ and, potentially, an interesting audience drawn from different points on the musical spectrum.
Other aspects of this year’s Durham Brass Festival, including street performances, are yet to be announced, so keep an eye on the website which is also where you can buy tickets.