Katrina Marzella meets Erik Jansen

It is my pleasure to welcome you to Brass Band World’s version of Desert Island Discs and this month's castaway is Dutch conductor, Erik Janssen

Later this month, Erik will lead the 14th European Youth Brass Band (EYBB) at the European Championships in Lille, France. His appointment at the EYBB is welcome indeed, as Erik is now established as a vibrant and pre-eminent force in brass band conducting across the Continent.

Born in 1966, Erik studied at the Amsterdam Conservatoire, specialising in both trumpet and conducting. For many years, he worked as a freelance trumpeter, playing with the Netherlands Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Ballet Orchestra and the Amsterdam Wind Orchestra, to name but a few. He currently works as a military musician and conducts the Band of the Military Police - one of the country’s foremost professional fanfare bands (comprising brass, woodwind, saxophones and an entire section of flugel horns).

Erik rose to prominence in the brass band fraternity as Musical Director of Brassband Schoonhoven, with which he won the Dutch National title four consecutive times between 2010 and 2014. He led Schoonhoven to an emphatic own-choice victory on home soil at the 2012 ‘European’ in Rotterdam, helping the band to attain its best position of third at the Championships overall. Erik is now in demand as a conductor of brass bands, wind bands, fanfare orchestras, big bands and symphony orchestras across Europe.

His disc selection is just as diverse as his impressive conducting portfolio, although he admittedly found the decision quite challenging: “This is so difficult - almost cruel - I really love so much music!” he reflected. However, variety is the spice of life - and this resulting selection is definitely quite mouthwatering…

To find out Erik Janssen’s selections, and to read about more of Katrina's BBW Castaways in the future, subscribe to BBW Digital here.