Alan Frederick Lumsden passed away peacefully on the 30 September 2020. An exceptionally versatile musician on a large number of early brass and woodwind instruments, he was a founding member of the London Trombone Quartet, the London Cornett and Sackbut ensemble, and the London Serpent Trio. Alan held the positions of Professor of the Sackbut at the Royal College of Music, Professor of the Recorder and Early Music studies at the Birmingham Conservatoire, and Head of Brass at Malvern College.

Photo (left to right): Alan Lumsden, Christopher Monk, and Andrew van der Beek

Members are reminded that nominations for the 2021 Monk Award must be received by 30 January. Nominations must comply with the procedures outlined on this site under 'Awards'.

The Historic Brass Society will host a Virtual Symposium entitled "Pond Life: Crosscurrents over the Atlantic" on May 24-26, 2021. The focus will be on the exchange and cross-pollination of ideas between Britain, Europe and the Americas, with topics including the development of the brass quintet; British Jazz and American influences; instrument designs and manufacturing; repertoire, composers, performers and publications; 19th-century performance practices. Scheduled events include a panel discussion on The Development of the Brass Quintet and Brass Chamber Music moderated by John Miller with Allan Dean, Ray Mase, John Wallace, Simon Hogg and others; a talk on The History and Development of British Dance Bands by Dr. James Nott (University of St. Andrews) with a livestreamed concert by the Fife Youth Jazz Orchestra led by Richard Michael (jazz educator); Highlights of the Webb Collection and Brass Archives of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with Arnold Myers, and a livestreamed concert by The Wallace Collection of original 19th-century small brass ensemble music played on period instruments from the RCS collections.

Click here to view the full conference description and press release.

Be a part of this symposium!  Read the Call for Presentations!
Click here to view the Call for Presentations (due February 19, 2021) 

The Executive Committee and the Board of Directors are pleased to announce our first global virtual annual meetings. We have scheduled two meetings to better accommodate people's schedules and time zones.  We invite you to attend one -- or both if you wish!

The meetings are to be held:
January 16, 2021  9:00 AM EST (UTC -05:00 or 14:00 UTC)
January 17, 2021  1:00 PM EST (UTC -05:00 or 18:00 UTC)

Gavin Holman has posted a preliminary version of his extensive catalog/inventory of American bands entitled Brass Bands and Cornet Bands of the USA: A Historical Directory. The document references 8,700 bands by name, and is intended as an aide for future research. He notes that he has only done extensive work up to about 1872 in the current version! To view it, click here: https://www.academia.edu/44797004/Brass_Bands_and_Cornet_Bands_of_the_U_S_A_a_historical_directory