Brass

Members of the RWCMD Symphony Orchestra backstage at St David's Hall

Christian Lindberg with the RWCMD Wind Ensemble

Masterclass with Sergei Nakariakov

RWCMD Students with The Cory Band at the European Championships in Oslo, May 2013

Students on the Welsh National Opera Placement Scheme perform with the Orchestra's brass section during its regular residency at the College

The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama is perfectly positioned to deliver an unparalleled training experience for those wishing to enter the music profession as brass players. Cardiff and its surrounding regions are steeped in brass history and offer a fantastic range of opportunities for brass musicians.

The Brass Department at RWCMD aims to challenge its students by broadening their view of the brass world. We can offer a superb variety of rehearsal and performance opportunities, with concerts ranging from renaissance dance music played on sackbuts and cornetts through to avant-garde compositions using contemporary techniques. The departmental staff includes many players drawn from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera, with a busy programme of masterclasses by leading international performers and ensembles.

Euphonium virtuoso David Childs attracts students from around the world while his father, Dr Robert Childs co-ordinates all brass band activities. Within the BMus course, brass band players are able to follow a unique Brass Band Pathway in parallel with their wider studies by selecting from a range of specialist options. Students may also be selected, by audition, to play with the College’s Brass Band in Residence, the four-times European Champion Cory Band.

In preparation for rich and varied professional life, there are opportunities for brass players to gain experience in a whole range of areas including solo performance, chamber music, orchestral playing, historical performance, brass band, teaching, arranging, and performing in commercial idioms and jazz.

Brass players also have the opportunity to audition for a place on the placement programmes the College has developed with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera. These privileged arrangements enable students to work closely with the principal players in two of the UK’s leading professional orchestras and to receive coaching on essential orchestral repertoire. In recent years, a number of RWCMD students have gained professional freelance work and orchestral trials while still at College as a direct result of this collaboration.

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