This month's BBW 'Centre Band' is Japan-based Nexus Brass Band formed in 1995, in Ibaraki, as the very first British style brass band in the area.

Its debut concert was under the baton of Professor Takeo Yamamoto - the ‘Harry Mortimer’ of brass bands in Japan - after which the band invited a former musical director of the Royal Air Force, Eric Banks, to guest conduct several concerts so that it could experience brass banding with a British musician.

Since 2014, Kaz Kouno, who just finished his career playing in the UK’s Cory Band, and who also studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, has been the Resident Conductor. Kaz is now investing the huge experience he gained playing for Robert Childs and Philip Harper, as well as the huge influences of Kevin Price, Sean O’Neil and Nigel Seaman whilst he was in Wales, in Nexus. Band and conductor frequently tackle challenging repertoire such as Philip Sparke’s epic Music of the Spheres - the main piece at the Nexus 20th Anniversary Concert, at which Kaz debuted as the band’s Resident Conductor. British musicians are still a constant feature within the band’s calendar of events and...

Learn more about Nexus Brass Band and its line-up by subscribing to BBW Digital here.