News

Groundbreaking European consortium commission announced Edward Gregson will celebrate his 75th birthday in July 2020, and in a unique collaboration between five European partner countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland and the UK) the composer has been commissioned to write a new work for their National brass band competitions in 2020/2021 – a fitting tribute … Continued

Edward Gregson‘s Saxophone Concerto is to be given its Swiss premiere by the young and highly-acclaimed British saxophonist Jess Gillam. She joins the Argovia Philharmonic and their chief conductor Douglas Bostock in three concerts beginning on 23 September  at the Kultur & Kongresshaus, Aarau and the Trafo-Halle, Baden. The concerto will form part of an all-English program … Continued

The Hallé Orchestra and Children’s Choir will perform the world premiere of The Salamander and the Moonraker (An Adventure Story in Music) on Sunday 1 July at The Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. Finding the correct balance between the forces in this large-scale piece is just one of the challenges relished by its composer, Edward Gregson. You … Continued

The RNCM Brass Band, conducted by Nicholas Childs, will perform Edward Gregson’s large-scale, Shakespearean-inspired work, An Age of Kings, in the RNCM Concert Hall on 7 June at 6pm. This dramatic work is scored for augmented brass band, with the addition of harp, piano, mezzo-soprano solo, male chorus, as well as two off-stage trumpets. The Concert Hall … Continued

March was a busy month in Edward Gregson’s diary.  He travelled to Trondheim, Norway, to adjudicate the Norwegian National Wind Band Championships, commenting that: “The standard of wind playing in Norway is extraordinarily high, and in the Elite section the quality of both performance and programming was of a professional standard.  The winning ensemble, the … Continued

In 2017 the Hallé Concerts Society commissioned Edward Gregson to write a new work for the Hallé Children’s Choir.  The premiere of this new work will take place  on 1 July 2018 at The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester.  The Hallé Children’s choir will be joined by two narrators from the Manchester Metropolitan University School of Drama … Continued

It has taken many years to come to fruition, but Edward Gregson’s new Euphonium Concerto, commissioned by international euphonium soloist David Childs, will receive its premiere in its incarnation for brass band on 16th June in Kawasaki, Japan. Further performances will take place in the Autumn in Belgium and Switzerland. The orchestral version will be … Continued

Dances and Arias, featuring the music of Edward Gregson, performed by Black Dyke Band and conducted by Nicholas Childs, and is the winner of the Brass Band World (BBW) Band CD of the Year Award, from a shortlist of seven contenders featuring a range of fascinating programme concepts and a notable predominance of concert repertoire. … Continued

The British Academy of Songwriters, Composers & Authors (BASCA) has announced the nominations for the 15th British Composer Awards, the winners of which will be announced on Wednesday 6 December at the British Museum in London. Edward Gregson’s Four Études for brass band, commissioned by Black Dyke Band for the recording to mark the conclusion … Continued

The Presteigne Festival 2017 programme has been announced. Set on the Powys/Herefordshire border, the Festival has gained a reputation for delivering a broad range of contemporary music, especially British music. This year the Festival features seven works by from Composer-in-Residence, Edward Gregson, including two world premieres. The first of the seven works by Gregson, Six … Continued

A new CD of Gregson’s brass band music will be released on 27 January 2017 at the RNCM Brass Band Festival in Manchester, UK. This is Volume 6 of the ongoing series on the Doyen label of Gregson’s brass band music, a series that commenced in the early 1990s with Gregson himself conducting some of … Continued

On Friday 27 January, at the Royal Northern College of Music’s Brass Band Festival weekend, Edward Gregson will be conducting the Black Dyke Band in the world premiere of his new work for brass band, Four Études. In the same concert Richard Marshall, principal cornet of the Black Dyke Band, will perform Gregson’s recently written Cornet Concerto. … Continued

A concert given by the BBC Symphony Orchestra on 6 January to celebrate Edward Gregson’s 70th birthday is to be broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s ‘Afternoon on 3’ on Tuesday 20 September from 15.00. British pianist Ronan O’Hora performs Homages, Edward Gregson’s rhythmic Concerto for Piano and Wind inspired by the piano concertos of Stravinsky, Bartók, … Continued

Edward Gregson’s large-scale symphonic work ‘Dream Song’ will receive its North American premieres in early June with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Bramwell Tovey. Commissioned by BBC Radio 3 for the ‘Mahler in Manchester’ Festival of 2010, the work reflects the composer’s relationship with Mahler’s music, in particular the 6th Symphony, the work which formed the main part … Continued

Edward Gregson continues his 70th birthday celebrations with a number of adjudicating roles. On 15 April he will chair the jury for the BBC Radio 2 Young Brass Award 2016, to be held at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, and broadcast live on the BBC’s Radio 2 national station. Then, on 19 April, … Continued

On Saturday 23rd April a concert will take place in Kettering featuring the Virtuosi GUS Band and the Belcanto Female Voice Choir, celebrating the 70th birthday of Edward Gregson, one of the foremost UK composers of his generation, and who for many years was also Principal of the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. The … Continued

The Norwegian Armed Forces Staff Band [Forsvarets Stabsmusikkorps] is hosting a mini-festival celebrating the music of Edward Gregson on April 9 at the Ridehuset, Akershus Fortress, Oslo. Three concerts of the Novello composer’s work will be presented by the Armed Forces Staff Band, the Oslo Brass Band and students from the Norwegian Academy of Music, directed by the … Continued

Black Dyke Band is thrilled to announce that through a three year initiative funded by Arts Council England, Edward Gregson has accepted the role of ‘Composer in Residence’. Edward Gregson is well known to the Black Dyke Band, having begun his association with the band in 1971 with the premier of his Horn Concerto. Other brass band … Continued

Robert Beale, music critic of the Manchester Evening News and a regular contributor to Classical Music magazine, chose Gregson’s String Quartet as one of his favourite premieres of 2015:   One new work I would certainly have put in this slot was Edward Gregson’s string quartet (premiered by the Navarra Quartet in January for Manchester Mid-day … Continued