Phoenix Brass

Phoenix Brass Biography
Formed in Manchester in 2022, Phoenix Brass are one of the top quintets and most exciting
young chamber groups to come out of the city in recent years. Made up of eminent
Manchester freelancers and senior students of the Royal Northern College of music, the
group formed quite literally out of the ashes of the acclaimed Whitworth Septet, but are
now forging a path of their own, reaching the semi-finals of this year’s Philip Jones
International Brass Ensemble Competition against stiff competition. Phoenix’s members hail
from incredibly diverse backgrounds and are brought together by a love of brass ensemble
music and the desire to expand this repertoire – each member of the group is a keen
arranger and the Quintet recently gave a Thursday Evening Spotlight recital at the RNCM,
with a programme made up entirely of their own arrangements of music from the Cathedral
evensong oeuvre (and a Norwegian film medley encore!). The group make the most of the
incredible opportunities at the RNCM and regularly receive coaching from such renowned
brass musicians as Murray Greig and John Miller. Aside from the quintet, the members of
the group are keen orchestral musicians and freelance regularly with the top orchestras in
the North West, such as the Hallé Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and
the Orchestra of Opera North

Phoenix Brass – Programme – 17/12/23
First half:
Pinchcliffe – Bent Fabricius-Bjerre arr. Heidi Solem
Guadaloupe – Torbjörn Hultmark
Shropshire Lad – George Butterworth arr. Cameron Chin-See
Stomper – Gwilym Simcock
(Interval)
Second half:
Christmas Festive Overture – Leroy Anderson
Song for Rosie – Mark Nightingale
Winter Wonderland – Felix Bernard arr. Matt Kingston
Hark the Herald – Theme and Variations – arr. Matt Kingston
We Wish a Merry Jazzed Up Christmas – Gareth Brown
Sleigh Ride – Leroy Anderson