Kingdom Brass are celebrating a host of awards after the week long "Scottish Festival of Brass", held in Perth Concert Hall from 24th November to 2nd December.

Kingdom Brass 'A' competed in the main event of the Festival, the Scottish Open Championships. After a fantastic year where Kingdom's flagship senior band finished in the top three at all Scottish events, Kingdom 'A' had to be content with the consolation of the runner up award in the chase for 'Scottish Championship Section Band of the Year'.

Conducted by Bede Williams, the band performed their own choice testpiece, Philip Sparke's 'Music of the Spheres' to rapturous applause from the audience in Perth Concert Hall.

Two junior bands from the Kingdom Organisation also competed at the first weekend of the Festival. Kingdom's '16 & under' band was conducted by Kenneth Blackwood and won the bronze award, while Kingdom's '14 & under' band were conducted by Sarah Findlay and won the silver award. A fantastic achievement, especially in the younger age group where some of the Kingdom players were as young as 8 years old.

A brand new event concluded the first weekend of the Festival, with the Kingdom Percussion Academy conducted by Lynsey Paterson winning the silver award in the newly introduced percussion class.

Last weekend and it was the turn of Kingdom Brass 'B' to compete in the Scottish Challenge Cup. A fantastic performance of their own choice testpiece, Peter Graham's 'Dimensions', won the contest, rounding off a brilliant debut year for the new Kingdom 'B' Band. Conducted by Kenneth Blackwood, Kingdom 'B' also won the prize for best 4th Section Band, and having been unbeaten in their section all year, they also took the title of 'Scottish 4th Section Band of the Year'.

Chairman of Kingdom 'B', Ian Green, said of the result "It's a great achievement for us to go all year unbeaten in Scotland. We created the new 'B' band to give the oldest players from our youth band the chance to perform in a senior band, and with such a young band we didn't expect to be so successful in our first year. We've got a great mix of youth and experience in the band, and are looking forward to being promoted to section 3 for 2013."

added 2nd December 2012

Kingdom Brass claimed a double victory at the FCBA Open Contest in Kirkcaldy, with Kingdom 'A' lifting the title of "Best Fife 'A' Band" and Kingdom 'B' winning the "Best Fife 'B' Band" title.

The 'A' Band's 13th Fife title proved to be a disappointing one though, as the band had to settle for the runner up spot in the Open Contest. An exciting performance of Philip Sparke's "Music of the Spheres", led by Bede Williams, was thought by many in the hall to be the clear winner by some margin, but adjudicator Paul Andrews decided to place Kingdom 2nd in the field of 18 bands.

As well as the runner up spot and best Fife 'A' Band title, Kingdom also won the prizes for 'Best Hymn' and 'Best Percussion', and solo horn Peter Richmond lifted the award for 'Best Horn' after his fantastic opening to the testpiece.

Kingdom 'B' made their debut at the contest, performing the National Finals testpiece "A British Isles Suite", conducted by Ken Blackwood. They continued their unbeaten run in Scotland by winning the 4th Section title, as well as the award for best Fife 'B' band.

added 6th October 2012

Kingdom claimed the runner up spot and £1,200 in prize money at the Land O'Burns contest in Troon, just missing out on retaining the title the band won in 2011.

A superb performance off an early draw proved to be the highlight of the first half of the contest, only being pipped to the title by a strong second half performance from Co-operative Funeralcare Band.

In a repeat of the top three result from the West Lothian Festival, Whitburn had to settle for third place.

Kingdom Brass opened with the sparkling 'Activate' by Matthew Hall, and launched into their solo item, 'Brillante' featuring solo euphonium Neil Philip. The band slowed the tempo down for a laid back performance of 'Tonight' before a rousing 'Belfords Carnival March'. The programme was brought to a close with 'Nightingale Dances'.

As well as the runner up spot, Kingdom also won the prize for 'Best Percussion'.

added 26th August 2012

The whole spectrum of Kingdom Brass was featured in the organisation's Annual Concert, which was held in the Lochgelly Centre on August 11th.

Kingdom 'A', conducted by Andy Duncan, opened the film music themed concert in style, before handing the baton onto the current 4th Section Scottish Champions, Kingdom Brass 'B', who rounded off the first half. During that handover Andrew Duncan made a special presentation to the conductor of Kingdom 'B', Paul McKelvie, of a £2,000 donation from Fife Council towards the band's trip to the National Finals in Cheltenham.

The Kingdom Percussion Academy, led by Lynsey Paterson, opened the second half of the concert, marching on to music from 'The Jungle Book'. The development group from the Youth Band, some of who had only been playing a matter of months, then continued the film theme with 'Spiderman' before the main Youth Band took the stage, conducted by Sarah Findlay.

Kingdom 'A' then returned to the stage to complete the evening, with highlights including a special trombone trio of Alex Trotter, Alan Douglas and Bill Sandell dressed in their habits for 'I Will Follow Him', and the euphonium duet of Neil Philip and Brian Paterson appearing as Laurel & Hardy in 'Another Fine Mess'.

Appearing alongside Kingdom 'A' was the superb vocalist Josie Duncan, who brought the house down with performances of 'When She Loved Me' from Toy Story 2, and 'My Heart Will Go On' from Titanic.

The evening was rounded off with a special encore of the now traditional 'Loch Lomond' featuring players from Kingdom 'A', Kingdom 'B', Kingdom Youth and the Kingdom Percussion Academy.

added 11th August 2012

Kingdom Brass took the runner up spot at the West Lothian Festival of Brass for the third year running, just behind eventual winners Co-operative Funeralcare.

A programme that adjudicator Ray Farr said was 'expertly constructed' and with the 'wow factor' opened with the high octane 'Activate', complete with video and sound effects. Percussionist Lynsey Paterson led the way as soloist in 'A Caledonian Fanfare' before the band took the roof off with their sectional feature 'Coconut Champagne'.

Each band at the competition had to perform a Roy Newsome composition, and Kingdom picked 'Belford's Carnival March' as their choice. A vocal solo brought the loudest cheers of the day as Kingdom performed 'When She Loved Me' from Toy Story 2, complete with video backing. The finale to the programme was the 'Firebird Suite', completing a performance many in the audience said was the most entertaining in the history of the Festival. As well as the runners up placing, Kingdom also won 'Best New Arrangement', best section (percussion) and most entertaining band.

added 11th June 2012

Kingdom Brass celebrated a double victory at the weekend, with the 'A' Band retaining their "Fife Brass Band Festival Champions" title, and Kingdom Brass 'B' continuing their fine form, folling their win at the Scottish Championships by winning the 4th Section title.

The brilliant New Zealander, Bede Williams, conducted both bands, claiming his second and third titles with the Kingdom Organisation after conducting the 'B' Band at the Scottish Championships.

Kingdom 'A's programme started with Matt Hall's 'Activate', with solo trombone Chris Mansfield following that with a sparkling rendition of 'Bolivar'. The band continued with the 'Japanese Slumber Song' before concluding with 'Dundonnell' from 'Hymn of the Highlands'.

Kingdom Brass 'B' opened with 'Valero' before featuring principal cornet Gavin Spowart in the solo, 'Share My Yoke'. The band continued with 'Libertango' before closing their programme with the 'Ritual Fire Dance'.

added 21st April 2012

Kingdom Brass 'B', conducted by Bede Williams, has won the title of Scottish 4th Section Champions on their contesting debut.

Playing the testpiece, Vaughan Williams 'English Folk Song Suite', the band put in an exciting performance to lift the title. Adjudicator John Doyle said "It really was an exuberant performance. It was a very modern take on a classic piece of brass band repertoire, but the quality of playing stood out. It was very exciting and colourful to say the least."

With almost half of the band aged 16 and under, and ten of those players coming from Kingdom's youth setup, the future of the organisation looks very strong indeed. One of those youth players, Danielle Stark, won the prize for the 'youngest Bb bass player' at the competition.

Kingdom Brass 'B' now qualify to compete at the National Championships, in Cheltenham in September.

On the Sunday it was the turn of Kingdom 'A' to compete. Conducted by the brilliant Belgian Frans Violet the band delivered a strong performance off an early draw to capture third place. The disappointment of just missing out on a place at the Royal Albert Hall was evident, but the result firmly cements Kingdom's position as real challengers for the future.

The highlight for the 'A' band was solo baritone Colin McCabe capturing the prize of 'best baritone & euphonium' on the day, with both adjudicators praising his playing in their remarks.

added 12th March 2012