Brass Band Willebroek and conductor Frans Violet won the Belgian National Brass Band Championships for the 20th time at the Cultuurcentrum Zwaneberg in Heist-op-den-Berg near Antwerp on the weekend of 25-26 November. This was Willebroek’s first Belgian title since 2014 and the band will now represent Belgium at the 2018 European Championships in Utrecht, The Netherlands. 

Jan de Haan’s Metamorphosis was the set test-piece, which Willebroek followed up with its own-choice, Destination Moon by Paul Raphael. Completing a memorable weekend for the organisation, Young Brass Band Willebroek won the 3rd Division under Lode Violet. The results were:

 

Championship Section

Test-piece: Metamorphosis (Jan de Haan)

1. Brass Band Willebroek (Frans Violet) 97 (test-piece) + 95 (own-choice) = 96.00 (average)*

2. Noordlimburgse Brassband (Erik van de Kolk) 96 + 96 = 96.00

3. Festival Brass Band (Steven Verhaert) 93 + 97 = 95.00

4. Brass Band Buizingen (Luc Vertommen) 92 + 94 = 93.00

5. Brass Band Heist (Bert van Thienen) 89 + 92 = 90.50

6. Kortrijk Brass Band (Ward de Ketelaere) 88 + 89 = 88.50

7. Brass Band Leieland (Sam Werbrouck) 86 + 90 = 88.00

8. Brass Band Zele (Bart van der Strieckt) 87 + 88 = 87.50

* denotes test-piece taking precedent in the event of a tie

 

1st Division

Test-piece: Blackout (Thomas Doss)

1. Brass Band Bacchus (Bart van Neyghem) 87 + 89 = 88.00

2. Brass Band Scaldis (Raf van Looveren) 88 + 87 = 87.50

3. Brass Band Panta Rhei (Tim De Maeseneer) 85 + 85 = 85.00

4. Brass Band De Grensbewoners Smeermass (Danny Aerden) 83 + 86 = 84.50

 

2nd Division

Test-piece: Partita for Band (Postcards from Home) (Philip Wilby)

1. Brass Band Euterpe (Roland van Buggenhout) 81 + 81 = 81.00

 

3rd Division

Test-piece: A Journey to the Bermuda Triangle (Pimpanit Karoonyavanich)

1. Young Brass Band Willebroek (Lode Violet) 92 + 93 = 92.50

2. Mercator Brass Band (Johan De Win) 87 + 86 = 86.50

3. Dender Brass (Joeri van Hove) 84 + 82 = 83.00 

4. United Brass (Frank Vantroyen) 82 + 83 = 82.50

Adjudicators: Nigel Boddice, Mareika Gray and Torgny Hanson