Macclesfield Youth Brass Band Prepare to Launch

This weekend Macclesfield Youth Brass Band will premiere a new work by British Composer Award winner Lucy Pankhurst.

Commissioned for the band’s performance at the Barnaby Festival, ‘Contact Light’ (the words spoken by Buzz Aldrin as the Lunar Module gently touched the surface of the moon) fuses the worlds of brass and electronics to create a journey into space.

The theme for Macclesfield’s Barnaby Festival is ‘Space to Breathe’ and the new work uses the concept as an adventure through space, accompanied by narrations and quotes from Carl Sagan of NASA. With the addition of electric guitars and electronic equipment such as Novation Launchpad controllers and tablet sequencer apps within the performance, the band hopes to create a futuristic landscape to capture the imagination.

Award winning actor Brian Blessed has also kindly recorded the narration used within the piece.  MYBB Musical Director Louise Renshaw comments,

“We wanted to produce something that goes beyond anything we’ve done before, combining music technology with the brass band setting. The piece is very atmospheric and Lucy has delivered a superb work that is packed with exciting and unusual elements which we hope will enthral the audience.”

Lucy Pankhurst said,

“This is the second time I have worked with Macclesfield Youth Band and it’s been another exciting and totally unique project. Starting with a workshop where we all got to grips with using Launchpad technology, we have grappled with many technical challenges to reach what I think will be a really entertaining performance. It’s always brilliant to work with an organisation that wants to explore new musical territory and work outside its comfort zone.”

The youth band’s performance at Barnaby Festival is part of the Brass Band Bonanza in St Michaels churchyard on Sunday 26th June which starts at 1pm and is free to attend. The youth band will perform a Space themed programme of music including ‘Contact Light’ from 2.45pm inside St Michaels Church.

The band will also perform the new work at Clonter Opera on Saturday 25th June as part of the Love Music Trust concert starting at 7pm. Tickets available on the door.