Italian Championships cancelled
The 2018 Italian National Championships have been cancelled, but thankfully will return in 2019 as a biennial event to be held in Vipiteno on the Italian border with Austria. The 2018 Championships, which was due to have taken place in Novi Ligure in the Piedmont region near Milan in November, has been cancelled owing to severe organizational and economic issues.
Trombone virtuoso and advocate of the contest, Lito Fontana stated, "I am so sorry to report that the Championships this year have had to be cancelled. Everyone has been working hard to build the Italian brass band movement and although we are all disappointed that the event cannot go ahead this year. We will hold it in 2019 to include brass band ensembles from leading conservatoires as well as community bands. We believe a competition every two years will help us further develop grass roots brass banding and to ensure we are not faced with the late problems which have affected us this year."
