THE NEWS

BY BARNEY MEDLAND Election of New British Trombone Committee The AGM of the British Trombone Society took place on 20 November. BTS members present heard reports from BTS President Simon Minshall, BTS Administrator Chris Sowerby, and regional reports from BTS Regional Representatives. One of the main events at the AGM was the election of the new committee. You can see your current BTS committee on the BTS website.

Victory for Kris Garfitt at ARD International Music Competition Trombonist Kris Garfitt has won first prize and audience prize at the prestigious ARD International Music Competition, based in Munich. Kris’s prizewinning performance included the Trombone Concerto by Henri Tomasi. In the semi-final, Kris won the trombone category Special Prize for Interpretation of a Commission Competition, with his performance of two Concert Etudes by Mike Svoboda. Congratulations to Kris for these awesome achievements.

Kris has been Solo Trombone with the WDR Symphony Orchestra since 2020, having previously held the same post at the German Radio Philharmonic. In addition to his orchestral work, Kris has a busy solo career of recitals and competitions. Carol Jarvis, a former president of the British Trombone Society, interviewed Kris for the BTS last year. You can hear all about Kris’s work so far, including expert tips, in the interview, which is available to view to all BTS members here.

Ivors Composer Awards Nomination for Alex Paxton Congratulations to Alex Paxton, whose work Music for Bosch People was nominated in the Chamber Ensemble category at this year’s Ivors Composer Awards. This follows Alex winning the award for best Small Chamber Composition, for Sometimes Voices for keyboard and drums, last year. Alex is an improvising trombonist and one of the most exciting British composers around. The BTS interviewed Alex about last year. You can read the full interview here.

Concerto Performances The last week in November saw THREE trombone concerti performed in Leeds, plus TWO world premières! Something of a record? With the Orchestra of Opera North Joe Alessi recorded Pandora and Christian Jones recorded Gresley, both by Ben Ellin, and Blair Sinclair performed the Concerto by Nino Rota at the Leeds Conservatoire. All three recorded Ben’s new works: an unaccompanied trio called Stow Sketches and a piece for three trombones and orchestra called Windows. Somewhat busy times…and some great playing.

And finally… A new trombone-based PC game has taken the online world by storm. Trombone Champ is a rhythm-based game that bears more than a passing resemblance to the famous game Guitar Hero. In Trombone Champ, players move a virtual trombone slide as famous pieces like Johann Strauss’s Blue Danube Waltz and Richard Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra play, attempting to hit as many notes as possible. The greater the accuracy the higher the score. Videos of the game have had millions of views online, and the game is a bestseller on the PC game selling platform Steam. Trombone-playing readers can watch this clip and make up their own minds how much resemblance Trombone Champ has to playing Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony in real life. ◆