26/9/2010 [About Yamaha]
Yamaha Music UK are delighted to announce that we have entered into a new partnership with Brass In Concert to become the official sponsor of the championships in The Sage, Gateshead.
Speaking on behalf of the Brass in Concert organising team, Paul Beere, whose father Cyril was one of the founding organisers of the event, said: “Over the past few years Brass in Concert has established healthy relationships with a number of companies involved with, or connected to the brass band scene. However, one element we always felt was missing was the support of a major brass instrument manufacturer. In Yamaha we feel we have the perfect partner. After lengthy discussions with their organisation it was clear that there was a meeting of minds, and that both Yamaha and Brass in Concert are interested in partnering over the longer term, with shared vision about investment in youth development, together with the desire to create the best brass band events in the world”.
The arrangement has been put in place without any fixed term arrangement and with no written contract. “It’s vitally important that both parties are happy with the arrangement on an ongoing basis” commented Paul, “and we saw the prospect of being tied in to a fixed term as not serving the best interests of either party. In the same spirit of openness, we felt a written agreement was unnecessary and unwieldy – both Yamaha and Brass in Concert are clear about the mutual benefits that will result from this agreement, and we have a shared vision for the future of the Brass in Concert ‘festival’.”
Over a longer term basis a key plank of this partnership will be Yamaha’s support of the youth elements of the event – the brass workshops and taster sessions, although this year arrangements are already in place for the workshops to be supported by Black Dyke Band. “The arrangement with Black Dyke Band was agreed prior to the completion of our new sponsorship arrangement” commented Yamaha’s Marketing and Promotions Controller, Ian Frankland, “but we anticipate being very much more closely involved with these elements from 2011. For now we are just delighted to be part of Brass in Concert, a brass weekend that has proved to be hugely successful since the migration of the event to The Sage Gateshead a few years back”. Commenting further on the benefits of this partnership, Ian stated that “we already have good relations with some of the key players in the Brass in Concert ‘stable’, in particular British Bandsman and World of Brass, and we are looking forward to being part of a wider team who offer this exceptional event financial and/or organisational support. Brass in Concert rightly brands itself as ‘the leading brass entertainment championship in the world’, but it’s actually much more than that. The full weekend’s activities amount to a full brass festival, and we know the organisers have plans to develop the event even further. We want to be part of that, and we believe we can help such development”.
Brass in Concert will now be branded ‘Brass in Concert Championship… in association with Yamaha and British Bandsman’.
This year’s event takes place over the weekend of Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st November. The Saturday commences with brass workshops, then promotes a concert featuring the Elland Silver Youth Band (current Action Research National Youth Entertainment Champions), conducted by Samantha Harrison, together with the ‘workshop band’ conducted by Dr Nicholas Childs. The evening World of Brass in Concert features 2009 Champions, Foden’s together with Black Dyke Band. Tickets for all events are selling fast, but still available from The Sage Gateshead box office: 0191 433 4661, http://www.thesagegateshead.org
