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| [2000] [2002] [2003] [2004] [2005] [2006] [2007] An archive record of news from past times ...... Alan has been engaged by Scottish band, Tullis Russell Mills to conduct them at the National Finals in Harrogate. They will try to emulate the success of winning the 3rd Section Scottish Championship of earlier this year. Molde Brass Band from Norway has engaged Alan again to conduct them at the 2007 Norwegian Championships re-newing the very successful partnership forged over several years up until 2004. Alan has solo engagements booked with Sandhurst, Bilsdale, Ipswich and Clifton & Lightcliffe Bands up to the end of 2006. See the Diary page for dates. Alan has been engaged by Tullis Russell Mills Band from Fife to conduct them at the Scottish Championships in Motherwell on 11th March 2006. This year sees Alan adjudicate at 3 Areas, Yorkshire, Scotland and the South-West. The Camborne Youth Band are an important part of the calendar for Alan. He will help them in preparation for the defence of their National Junior title in April and the night before they will appear in concert with Brighouse & Rastrick in the Central Methodist Church in Brighouse. Alan has been engaged to conduct the European Youth Band in Belfast in conjunction with the European Championships held in Northern Ireland at the end of April. Solo engagements have been booked with Dalmellington, Easington, Bearpark & Esh Bands along with an appearance in Belfast during the week of the European Championships. Members of Garforth Golf Club, where Alan also plays golf, will have an evening of music with Alan on 12th May 2006. Simon Wood has agreed to accompany Alan and a full evenings light entertainment is planned. 2005 will be a busy year for Alan both as a performer and adjudicator. His latest CD `Over the Rainbow` is selling almost as fast as it can be produced and the Hot Records release of the single and shortened album will be released very shortly. It is hoped that the single may make an impact on the charts but also the re-released album will be distributed worldwide and should be widely available in shops and record dealers imminently. Alan will also be developing his relationship with the Camborne Youth Band in Cornwall, helping them in defence of their Junior National Championship title and spending several weekends throughout the year with the band in Cornwall. It is also hoped that a joint concert with Brighouse can be arranged for sometime in 2006. At Easter 2005 Alan will be jetting off to New Zealand to adjudicate the NZ National Championships. An around the world trip that will see him stop off in Canada on the way home where he will meet up with Brighouse & Rastrick for a short concert tour. Other adjudicating appointments include Butlins, several Areas, the National Youth Championships of Great Britain and of course New Zealand. Christmas With The Stars - Alan will be performing at this event, held at the Royal Albert Hall, on 8th December. It's a spectacular evening and a great fund-raising event for Leukemia Research. The new release by Hot Records of Alans latest album is scheduled for 26th September 2005. Entitled, `Alan Morrison – The Man With the Golden Cornet` it features 9 tracks taken from the `Over the Rainbow` CD and will be distributed worldwide. Watch out also for a single of the `Rainbow` track. Saturday 3rd September will see Alan in concert at Bridgewater Hall, Manchester with both SONAR Brass and Brighouse & Rastrick. Tickets are still available for `The Great Northern Brass Festival` Alan has been contracted to adjudicate the National Championships of Great Britain 1st Section Final at Harrogate in September and the National Championships of Sweden in November. Solo engagements with Brackley, Camborne Youth and BAE Surrey Bands are scheduled. See the diary dates for details. Alan will also be Guest Soloist with Brassband Province de Liège in Belgium on Sunday 30th October 2005. Alan will be Guest Soloist with the Dinnington Colliery Band in Dinnington on 4th December 2004. This will be conducted by Toby Bannan. Alan Morrison to adjudicate at the 2005 New Zealand National Brass Band Championships, to be held in Wellington, next Easter. The long awaited new solo CD
by Alan was launched on 4th September 2004 at Bridgewater Hall, Manchester as
part of the Great Northern Northern Brass Festival organised by Philip Biggs. Titled Somewhere Over the Rainbow the title track is the award winning arrangement by Alan of Eva Cassidiy`s emotive version of the Wizard of Oz classic. To order your copy [Click Here] Camborne Youth Band have just announced the appointment of Alan Morrison as their new Professional Musical Advisor. Alan will assist the bands MD Alan Pope in developing the 2004 National Junior Champions ands will visit Cornwall on a regular basis over the coming months. Alan Morrison will be Guest Soloist with several bands in the run up to Christmas, including Tarrington Brass (9th October), Greggs Bakery (12th November), Skipton Band (26th November) and Billingham Silver (22nd December ) 4th-8th November will see Alan return to Chicago, Illinois to adjudicate the 2nd US Open Brass Band Championships organised by the Prairie Brass Band. Alan Morrison has won the Fodens Richardson Award for arrangements. His stunning new cornet solo with band accompaniment `Somewhere Over the Rainbow` taken from the Eva Cassidy album `Songbird` has come out on top of over 120 entries. Froda Rydland of Eikanger has won the composition award of the same competition. Alan`s arrangement of `Somewhere Over the Rainbow` is published by Crabtree-music and is now available (click here to purchase online) - versions for piano accompaniment and quintet will be available soon. Alan has been contracted to appear as Guest Soloist with Strata Brass of Barnsley at Elsecar near Barnsley on Friday 16th April 2004. Newtongrange Band from Scotland have invited Alan to conduct the band at the Senior Cup in Blackpool in May. The test-piece is Journey Into Freedom by Eric Ball. Alan will also appear as Guest Soloist with Brackley & District Band on Friday 7th May 2004 at Wykham Hall, Banbury School, Banbury, Oxon. Early in 2004 Alan will head off down south to Cornwall to spend time with the Camborne Town organisation. He will adjudicate the band`s Annual Solo Contest on 10th January then the following day will conduct a masterclass and rehearsal for the junior band in the morning before taking part in a concert with the senior band as Guest Soloist at a hotel in Camborne. Molde Brass Band from Norway has once again engaged Alan to conduct them at the National NM competition in February. Preparations start in earnest over the weekend of 16th -18th January and continue from 6th February up to the contest in Bergen on 13th & 14th February. On 13th March 2004 Alan will adjudicate the Hexham Music Festival then travel up to Scotland the following day to adjudicate at the Scottish Championships. Alan looks forward very much to playing with SONAR Brass at the wedding of Grimethorpe Principal Cornet Richard Marshall to his fiancé Rebecca Yeo. This will take place in Bromsgrove on Friday 19th March 2004. At the end of April Alan records his seventh solo CD with the Brighouse & Rastrick Band. Watch out for further details and the opportunity to reserve your copy. On 7th May 2004 Alan will appear as Guest Soloist with the Brackley Band in Oxford. One of Alan`s major projects and concerts of 2004 will be a performance of Wilfred Heaton`s Sinfonia Concertante at the Gala Theatre in Durham. Accompanied by Brighouse & Rastrick conducted by Ray Farr, the programme will include Contest Music also by Wilfred Heaton and works by Philip Wilby, Torstein Aargard Nielson and Elgar Howarth. 2003 US Open Brass Band - Every once in a while the opportunity arises to participate in the making of history. My visit to Chicago and the inaugural US Open Brass Band Championships on 8th November 2003 will live long in my memory. Read my account of this experience in the Articles Section (Article 5).
Molde Brass Band conducted by Alan Morrison were delighted with 5th placing in this years NM Norwegian Championships in Bergen. Following last years 4th place Molde have really established and consolidated there position in Elite. It was even more remarkable to note that the band were placed 3rd on the set-test - A Kensington Concerto by Eric Ball. Perhaps the thought of this and just a little nervousness affected the own choice performance of `A Dove Descending` but 5th overall was another
marvelous achievement. Alan Moves Band! Alan is delighted to officially announce that he has accepted the appointment of Principal Cornet to the world famous Brighouse & Rastrick Band and takes up the position at the beginning of 2003. As well as adjudicating the National Finals Sections 2 & 4 in Dundee over the weekend 20th/21st September 2003, Alan has been contracted to adjudicate the North American Open
Championships in Chicago, USA on 8th November 2003.
Newtongrange Band from Scotland has contracted Alan
to conduct them at the Mineworkers Contest in Blackpool on Saturday 16th November 2002. Alan was Guest Soloist on 21st September 2002, with the Westoe Band from South Shields at the Customs House Theatre on the banks of the River Tyne. A packed audience heard a varied programme from the band and as well as playing several solos Alan joined the band for Trumpet Blues and Blue Rondo. Alan will be guest soloist with the Stonesfield Band at Exeter Hall, Kidlington on Saturday 6th July 2002. The concert starts at 7.30pm The National Youth Brass Band of Wales conducted by Robert Childs will feature Alan Morrison as Guest Soloist this year with concerts in North Wales on18th, 19th and 20th July. Alan will play the Denis Wright Cornet Concerto in the first half and several lighter items in the second half of each concert. The concerts are at Buckley on the 18th, Beaumaris on the 19th, and St.Asaphs Cathedral on 20th July. Boosey & Hawkes has recently reached an agreement with Alan Morrison to exclusively play and promote the new Besson Prestige Cornet. For detailed information on the instrument, please visit http://www.besson.com. For details on how to book Alan through Boosey & Hawkes for concerts, seminars/workshops etc. visit their website at http://www.boosey.com or speak to Jan Osman at Boosey & Hawkes. Alan has been very busy recently, with several concerts up and down the country. Bearpark & Esh, Murton Colliery, Egham and Lydbrook Bands have all featured concerts with Alan as a guest and near capacity audiences at all concerts have enjoyed some wonderful music-making from all concerned. Kingdom Brass, under the direction of Alan Morrison, gained an excellent 4th place at the recent Scottish Championships. Although this was not enough to qualify for the National Finals, the band and Alan were delighted with the placing gained with a very competent performance of 'Whitsun Wakes' by Michael Ball. Molde Brass Band, conducted by Alan Morrison, produced two superb performances in Bergen for the 2002 NM Championships, (Norwegian National Championships), and were rewarded with a fantastic 4th place. For a band who were only promoted this year and who have only played in Elite Division on one previous occasion this was a wonderful result, beating some household names on the way. Playing the set-test `Albion` by Jan van der Roost, and `Harrisons` Dream` by Peter Graham as own-choice, Molde Brass Band achieved their highest ever placing at NM and only just missed out on a fairytale place in the frame. Congratulations go to Manger Musikklag and Allan Withington who won the championships in which pre-contest favourites Eikanger-Bjorsvik were placed 7th. A new brass band quintet called SONAR Brass has been launched and features the talents of Alan Morrison, Richard Marshall, Owen Farr, Nick Hudson and Shaun Crowther. Click here to find out more about the group, its members and how you can book it for a concert or seminar. January 2002 was a busy month for Alan with visits to Norway and USA, as well as appearing in Truro with Travelsphere and St.Keverne Youth, and also visiting several bands in preparation for the forthcoming Area Contests. The trip to Chicago, USA to work with the Prairie Brass Band was most rewarding and Alan was well received by the band members working on the pieces for the NABBA Contest at Easter and also taking several cornet sectionals to work on sound and technique with individual lessons thrown in as well. Alan's father Arthur travelled with him and had a wonderful time, although returned very tired after a hectic trip. Alan would like to thank the band and its members for the welcome they gave and for their wonderful hospitality. In particular, to Dallas Niermeyer, their MD and his son Clark, who helped to organise the event. Roll on the next trip!!! Preparations are well under way for Alan to conduct Molde Brass Band at the NM Championships in Bergen. Alan returns to Norway in February for the bands 1st year back in Elite after last years successful promotion. Kingdom Brass have engaged Alan to conduct them at the Scottish Championships in Motherwell. Some major developments with Sandstorm Brass have occurred with several members including Alan breaking away to form a new group. Details have now been announced - find out more about the new quintet, SONAR Brass by clicking here. Several bookings for Alan to adjudicate have been confirmed but not publicised on this page, for obvious reasons. Alan will also undertake an Associated Board examining tour during March/April 2002, June/July 2002 and November/December 2002. Alan's latest Solo Album is Concerto x 4 featuring 4 major works for cornet accompanied by Katie Bell on piano. See below and CD Recordings page where a review by Peter Wilson of the British Bandsman appears.
The Brass Band Summer School will take place, as usual, in August at Bromsgrove School. If you are interested e-mail either Alan or Philip Biggs from the links page on this site. For a brief history of the BBSS and some interesting photos from the 2000 course, go to the new page on this site. Also visit Nick Hudson's site for more. 
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