A year in the life of London Central Brass
London Central Brass burst onto the scene in 2023, quickly securing the Company’s Brass Ensemble Prize (RAM). The quintet won a further prize for inventive programming. Comprising past and present Academy students – trumpeters, James Nash and Holly Clark, Beatriz Villa (Horn), Rhydian Tiddy (trombone) and James Tavaras (tuba) – the group is renowned for blending classical brass traditions with contemporary compositions. Here they share what they’ve been up to this year and what lies ahead.
What has the ensemble been up to this year?
This year has been full of lots of exciting concerts including performances at both Wigmore Hall and Lucerne Festival. We were also lucky enough to perform at the Lake District Music Festival twice this year.
What inspires your sound and repertoire choices?
We’re constantly looking to promote and perform new compositions and arrangements. We have performed various pieces by friends of the quintet throughout our various concerts while also performing classic quintet repertoire with a twist (Lutoslawski ‘Mini-Overture’ from memory or Jan Bach’s ‘Foliations’ in the style of a ‘young person’s guide’ to brass quintet are just a couple of examples). We also play a lot of our own arrangements, having performed an arrangement of Handel’s Suite in D from Water Music by Rhydian and an arrangement of Ravel’s ‘La Valse’.
How do you keep your sound fresh?
We aim to keep our sound fresh by always aiming for the character and oomph behind the music. In many of the more virtuosic works we perform, we aim to bring across the excitement and flare required to bring the music to life. Naturally, performing a huge range of repertoire helps keep things fresh and keeps our minds focused on our group sound and has us constantly evolving our own personal tastes.
What have been the best bits of this year?
I think a personal highlight of this year has been our trip to Switzerland in August. We had the fantastic opportunity to perform at the Lucerne Festival as well as perform in various smaller venues throughout both Zurich and Lucerne. It was our first international trip as a group, and we couldn’t have asked for a better time!
What are your upcoming plans?
We have various recital projects sprinkled throughout 2025 where we will continue to try and innovate our programming and platform new compositions and arrangements where we can.