Tredegar Town Band, Ross Knight & Ian Porthouse, Martyn Brabbins
Biography Tredegar Town Band, Ross Knight & Ian Porthouse, Martyn Brabbins
Ross Knight
is a 27 year old tuba player from Carnoustie in Scotland. He studied under Patrick Harrild at the Royal Academy of Music in London where he graduated with a first class honours Bachelor degree and a ProfDip & DipRAM with distinction. After this Ross moved to Germany where he studied under Prof. Jens Bjørn-Larsen at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover.
Quickly after beginning in Hannover Ross won the position of Tuba Academist in the prestigious Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, where he worked and studied with Alexander von Puttkamer, Principal Tuba of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
Since September 2016, Ross has been the Solo Tuba of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Geneva, Switzerland.
Ross has played with several of Europe’s top orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra where he was on trial for one and a half years, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House – Covent Garden, Tonhalle Orchestra – Zurich, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester – Berlin and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
Ross was also the Principal Tuba player of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester from 2015-2017 and the Principal Tuba player of the European Union Youth Orchestra from 2012-2015.
Ross has also been successful as a soloist on many occasions. He was awarded 2nd Place and the Overall Winner of the Category Tuba of the 2019 Aeolus International Competition for Wind Instruments. He was the 2012 BBC Radio 2 Young Brass Player of the Year and from that went on to perform as a soloist with the BBC Concert Orchestra on BBC Radio 2’s ‘Friday Night is Music Night’, and also with Grimethorpe Colliery Band at the British Open Gala Concert in Birmingham. He has given many solo recitals across Britain and as part of his stipendium from the Karajan Academy he also performed in Carte Blanche solo concerts, performed by the students of the Karajan Academy in the Chamber Music Hall of the Berlin Philharmonie.
In November 2018 Ross performed the Vaughan Williams Tuba Concerto with the Exeter Symphony Orchestra in Exeter, United Kingdom. He has also performed concerti with the Whitehall Orchestra and with the Tayside Symphony Orchestra.
In January 2016 Ross performed the Joseph Horovitz Tuba Concerto at the 2016 RNCM Brass Band Festival with Tredegar Band.
In April 2014 Ross was runner up in the European Brass and Percussion Solo Championships and won the best tuba award. He is to this day the highest placed tuba player in the history of the competition.
As a teacher, Ross regularly gives masterclasses at the Royal Academy of Music. He has also given masterclasses at the Royal Northern College of Music, the Royal College of Music, the Conservatoire National Supérieur Musique et Danse de Lyon, the Haute École de Musique de Genève and the Escola de Música do Estado de São Paulo in Brazil.
In July 2019 Ross was the tuba tutor of the Australian Youth Orchestra as part of their European and China Tour.
Tredegar Town Band
has earned a worldwide reputation for artistic innovation and excellence.
The origins of Tredegar Town Band can be traced back to 1849, although it wasn’t until 1876 following victory at the Welsh National Eisteddfod that they were formally constituted. History shows that early contesting victories were sporadic, although they did compete extensively - from local competitions to the famous Crystal Palace in London.
However, over the last 40 years they have become one of the world’s elite performers - as well as multiple winners of major competitions; claiming the British Open title in 2010 and again in 2013.
Voted 4Barsest ‘Band of the Year’ with MD Ian Porthouse ‘Conductor of the Year’ in 2010, they continue to represent the town that bears their name with pride.
This was literally so with the 2014 BAFTA Award winning film, ‘Pride’ where they provided a major part of the musical score and made a cameo appearance.
Further significant artistic achievements, include providing the accompanying score, by composer Gavin Higgins, to Rambert Ballet’s critically acclaimed production, ‘Dark Arteries’, which was subsequently shortlisted for a prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Award.
In contrast, in 2015 they also became the first band to perform in concert at the famous Old Vic Theatre in London alongside songwriter Tim Minchin, and in May this year were invited to perform on the ITV show ‘Britain’s Got Talent’.
However, the band continues to enhance its reputation for innovative artistic collaborations - performing at the ‘Changing Britain’ retrospective at the Southbank in London, whilst their ‘Dark Arteries’ recording was awarded 2015 ‘CD of the Year’ from every leading brass band publication - a feat repeated in 2016 with the critically acclaimed ‘War Memorials’ release.
2016 saw further success - winning both the televised Band Cymru title and becoming Champion Band of Wales for the eleventh time. In May, 2017 they came 5th at the European Championship in Ostende.
"No other brass band can do what Tredegar can do. Their musical versatility is incredible. I’ve never worked with a group of musicians with such passion, drive and commitment to excel and also with an insatiable appetite to innovative and encompass new ideas. They are simply fantastic." (Pride Film Director, Matthew Warchus)
Ian Porthouse
is regarded as one of the brass band movement’s leading conductors, educators, performers and teachers.The Head of Brass Band Studies at Birmingham Conservatoire hails from a musical family in the heart of Cumbria, where he became principal cornet and a founder member of the Cumbria Youth Brass Band.
At 16, he became leader of the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain and his outstanding talents soon saw him become principal cornet with Desford Colliery and Black Dyke, who he helped to claim historic major championship winning successes. During this time he also played with a number of the world’s finest instrumentalists at iconic concert venues, including Carnegie Hall in New York, and as a featured soloist with Phillip Smith, Principal Trumpet with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.
His first connection with Tredegar Band came in 1995 when he became principal cornet and conductor of their youth band, before moving north two years later to become principal cornet of Yorkshire Building Society Band.
In 2008 he made his long awaited return to Wales when he accepted the position as Musical Director of Tredegar Band – a move that has since seen them become one of the world’s leading contest and concert ensembles; winning a unique Grand Shield/British Open ‘double’ in 2010 and consecutive All England Masters International titles in 2011 and 2012.
Those achievements saw Tredegar voted ‘Band of the Year’ and Ian voted ‘Conductor of the Year’ by the influential online magazine 4Barsrest.com in 2010, whilst under his direction they have also released critically acclaimed CD recordings and in 2015 performed alongside the Rambert Ballet Company at Sadler’s Wells.
Tredegar’s current position as the number 5 ranked band in the world has been substantiated by further major championship success under Ian’s direction.
