Gregson in the Recording Studio

January 27, 2025

Edward Gregson attended recording sessions last week in the BBC Studios at Media City, Salford, when the BBC Philharmonic under Ben Gernon recorded his music for a new CD on the Chandos label (to be released in the Autumn of 2025). All the works will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 later in the year. It will be the fifth CD recording of his concertos and orchestral music in a series which Chandos commenced in 2003.

Three of his concertos were recorded: those for Tuba (1976), Oboe (2020), and Viola (2023), along with two shorter works for piano and orchestra, …

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Edward Gregson featured composer at RNCM International Brass Band Festival

January 9, 2025

In anticipation of his 80th birthday later in the year, the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) is to celebrate by way of featuring his music in their annual brass band festival. The RNCM has commented: An award-winning English composer, Gregson has made a profound impact on the wind and brass repertoire. The festival will journey through his works, from his earliest compositions to his latest piece. Edward Gregson was Principal of the College from 1996-2008, during a highly successful time in the College’s history.

Eight of his works will be performed, from his early French Horn Concerto (1971) to …

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Gregson nominated for Ivors Composer Award

October 15, 2024

Edward Gregson has been nominated for an Ivors Composer Award in the Best Large Ensemble Category for his Viola Concerto (Three Goddesses), a concerto for viola and string orchestracommissioned and premiered at the 2023 Presteigne Festival. It was performed by the dedicatee, Rachel Roberts, with the Presteigne Festival Orchestra, conducted by George Vass.

The Concerto is cast in three movements, played without a break, each being named after a different mythical Goddess: Morrigan (Celtic), Warrior Queen, but also ‘earth mother’; Aphrodite (Greek), Goddess of sexual love and beauty; Diana (Roman), Goddess of the hunt, wild animals, and …

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Cory Band records Gregson’s ‘Dances and Arias’

October 6, 2024

A new release on the Doyen label by the famous Cory Band from South Wales, celebrating their 140th anniversary, includes Edward Gregson’s 1984 composition Dances and Arias. This was the work that was used as the test piece at the 1984 National Brass Band Championship of Great Britain finals at London’s Royal Albert Hall when the Cory Band won the title, thus celebrating a hat-trick of wins in the competition. The band released an LP recording of the work in the next year, but this is the first time since then that they have recorded it. It has achieved critical …

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