STEVE BASTABLE

Steve Bastable has a wealth of brass band experience, as a cornet player with bands such as Black Dyke & Fairey’s and also, as a conductor with many of the leading bands throughout the UK.

Born in Birmingham, Steve studied at the University of Salford with David King, graduating with a BA (Hons) and gaining distinction as a conductor in his final year.

Having played cornet since the age of twelve, Steve progressed through the ranks of various local bands to become a Solo Cornet player with Black Dyke & Fairey’s. As a player, he has won all the major contests, including the British Open, Nationals, European & the All England Masters.

He has performed all over the world with various bands and has played on numerous CD's and broadcasts. Steve finished playing the cornet after accepting an offer to work in Hong Kong.

Upon moving back to the UK, Steve returned to brass bands as conductor of the Tredegar Band. He led them with much success, including numerous appearances at the British Open, National & European Championships. Achievements included becoming Welsh Champions & runners up at the National Championships at the Royal Albert Hall.

Following his time with Tredegar, Steve was given the opportunity to work with many of the UK’s leading bands such as Fairey’s, Fodens & Grimethorpe, both in concert & contest performances. During this period, he also conducted the Stavanger and Sola Bands in Norway, leading both to the National Championships in Bergen, with Sola winning the First Section National title.

As a conductor, Steve has directed prize-winning performances at all of the major British competitions. His final three years based in the UK involved working on a regular basis with the Kirkintilloch & Staffordshire Bands. Highlights included an unprecedented 4th place for Kirkie at the British Open & numerous contest wins for Staffs, which resulted in a very significant rise for them into the top 20 rankings.

Steve left the UK at the beginning of 2007 and currently lives & works in Melbourne, Australia.

BARRIE GOTT
M.Mus. LTCL A.Mus.A

Barrie Gott (b.1947) began his music career as a professional musician, studying trumpet with John Robertson and Harry Larsen at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. He subsequently joined the National Training Orchestra and was a regular casual player with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Barrie holds performance diplomas from the AMEB, Trinity College of Music, London in and a Masters degree in conducting from Azusa Pacific University in California where he studied with Dr. Gary Bonner. He has also studied composition and arranging at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with Ross Edwards and Don Banks.

Barrie has taught at all levels of education in private and government sectors and was Director of Instrumental Music at Azusa Pacific University, California..

As a conductor Barrie has served as music director for Salvation Army bands in Sydney, Pasadena and Brisbane as well as the Brisbane Excelsior Band where he was successful in bringing a new dimension into concert programming. He is currently the owner and musical director of the Queensland Pops Orchestra.

As a composer and arranger Barrie is published in Australia, United States, Great Britain and Europe and his works are on concert programs all over the world. He is a regular contributor to the Standard of Excellence repertoire for beginning concert bands published by Neil A. Kjos Music Company.

Barrie is also an adjudicator for contests, festivals and eisteddfods throughout the world having officiated at regional, state and national contests in Australia and overseas in Norway and New Zealand.

Barrie was the recipient of the 2004 Frank Wright Medal for services to banding.

KENNETH YOUNG

Kenneth Young is one of New Zealand’s leading conductors. He has established himself as a passionate and skilled interpreter of the Romantic and 20th Century repertoire, and twenty years of practical orchestral playing have given him a specialised rapport with his colleagues. Himself a composer, he has a particular interest in post-Romantic repertoire, and he has received recognition for his recordings of New Zealand orchestral and brass band repertoire.

His musical career began as a cornet player with the Woolston Band Learners Class and from there he moved through to the Woolston Auxiliary Band and on to Skellerup Woolston Band itself, but now as part of the euphonium section. He was a member of the National Youth Band from 1971-73 and 30 years later was delighted in being able to be its Musical Director from 2004-2006. He also conducted them in 2002.

Young took up the position of Principal Tuba with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in 1976 and his experience as a conductor with the NZSO dates from 1985, culminating in his appointment as the orchestra’s Conductor in Residence early in 1993. In 2001 he resigned from the NZSO in order to pursue his conducting and composing career fulltime. It also enabled him to re-establish his interest in brass band contest adjudicating and guest conducting.

Young has worked with all the regional orchestras throughout New Zealand, and his engagements with the NZSO and the New Zealand Chamber Orchestra have included highly acclaimed CD recordings of the orchestral works of Edwin Carr, Gareth Farr, Douglas Lilburn, Lyle Cresswell and many others, and opera excerpts with the New Zealand tenor Keith Lewis. He has also regularly conducted seasons with the Royal New Zealand Ballet.

Outside New Zealand, Young has worked with the Queensland Orchestra, the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, the City of Osaka Sinfonia, and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

In addition to his work as a performer and a conductor, Young has become one of New Zealand’s leading composers. Various commission from Chamber Music New Zealand, the NZSO, BBANZ, the International Festival of the Arts and Radio New Zealand, have been performed nationwide and also in the United States, Europe and Australia. Since 1988 he has been a member of the music faculty of the New Zealand School of Music where he lectures in conducting and orchestration.