Valaisia wins Swiss Open 

Congratulations to the Valaisia Brass Band, who emphatically won the Bess Swiss Open Championships, which took place this weekend in Luzern.  Under the skillful direction of MD Arsene Duc, Valaisia gave a superb performance of the set-work, 'Masquerade' by Philip Wilby, with euphonium player Glenn Van Looy taking the ‘best soloist’ individual honours too. The band also gave a fine account of Peter Graham’s ‘The Torchbearer’, which when combined with the points for the set work gave the band a very comfortable 5 point winning margin over runners-up Brassband Burgermusik Luzern. Brass Band Fribourg completed the podium places. 

In addition to the contest there was also a scintillating Gala Concert, provided this year by Black Dyke and guest soloist David Childs. Earlier in the day the Queensbury band were featured on national radio as they performed at an open-air event alongside JBL-Jugendblasorchester Luzern, Brass Band 13 Etoiles Formation B, Die kleine Egerlander Besetzung and Southbrass. Their performance in the evening however was truly something special, standing ovations from the capacity crowd drawn for the band's account of 'Antiphones on Themes of William Byrd' and for David Childs’ incredibly performance of Peter Graham’s euphonium concerto ‘Force of Nature’. A member of the band commented on the experience, “Amazing weekend in Lucerne with Black Dyke. Two terrific concerts, and a real privilege to perform for a sell out crowd at the KKL Luzern. Massive shout out to the phenomenal David Childs on his outstanding solos. Brass playing from a different planet, unbelievable performance.” 

 
Full results from the competition are below and a review of the event will appear in the next issue of Brass Band World Magazine. 
 
Result: 
Set Work: Masquerade (Philip Wilby) 
Adjudicators: Carlo Balmelli, Dr Robert Childs, Pascal Eicher, Blaise Heritier, Howard Loriman 
Set Test/Own-Choice = Total 
1. Valaisia Brass Band (Arsene Duc): 178/169 = 347 
2. Brassband Burgermusik Luzern (Michael Bach): 167/175 = 342 
3. Brass Band Fribourg (Florent Didier): 175/164 = 339 
4. Liberty Brass Band Ostschweiz (Stefan Roth): 171/163 = 334 
5. Ensemble de Cuivres Valaisan (Jean-Francois Bobillier): 161/172 = 333 
6. Wallberg Band (Ivan Meylemans): 162/170 = 332 
7. Brass Band Berner Oberland (Veronique Gyger-Pitteloud): 158/170 = 328 
8. Ensemble de Cuivres Jurassien (Ueli Kipfer): 168/155 = 323 
9. Oberaargauer Brass Band (Herve Grelat): 154/156 = 310 
10. Brass Band Luzern Land (Sandro Blank): 158/151 = 309 
Best Soloist on Set-Test: Glann Van Looy (Valaisia Brass Band) 
Highest points on Own Choice work: Brassband Burgermusik Luzern 

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