Excellent results for Jacob and University Brass Band at Unibrass festival
Huddersfield’s University Brass Band is celebrating after an outstanding performance at the recent Unibrass event held in Cardiff.
The band’s euphonium player Jacob Hickson won the Best Soloist award at the prestigious national university brass band competition for the second year in a row, the first player to win the award in consecutive years.
Jacob was also given the Spirit of Unibrass award, and the Huddersfield band were second overall, an excellent achievement following a challenging time where its members raised funds to attend the competition.
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The band’s 20-minute spot saw them perform music from various Roald Dahl productions, with Jacob taking a solo on euphonium on ‘Pure Imagination’ from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in what proved to be an emotional moment.
“Everyone knows this music, it is very impactful and I could see people becoming emotional, and I was almost crying myself,” says Jacob, who is in the final year of BMus Music Performance. “Even if you are not a musician, these pieces have motifs that you may recognise and I think plenty of people recognised what we were performing.”
Fundraising concerts
Jacob says the band’s second place in the whole competition is a “great achievement”, with the band performing at a series of concerts over Christmas that helped raised funds to see the band make the long journey to the University of Cardiff for the event. Opera North in Leeds also helped with a contribution ahead of the event in mid-February.
“The fundraising for the band has really helped me, and everyone in the band, to become more aware of how to manage money. The cost of the coach that took us to Cardiff was more than I would have thought, and we raised half of what was needed. I’d like to pursue a career in music eventually, and as many musicians have to juggle work and money issues, this has helped.”
Hailing from Stalybridge, the former pupil of Blue Coat School in Oldham is pleased that a move to playing euphonium relatively recently has paid off and he also praises the set-up at the University of Huddersfield for its music students.
“It had been hard during Covid, and A-levels were difficult but when I swapped to euphonium from trumpet everything became really positive for me. I was playing an instrument that I absolutely loved for four hours a day, and my schoolteacher Jim Fieldhouse, who also teaches euphonium at Huddersfield, suggested that I come to the university.
“A lot of people will say how good it is for music here. It is highly regarded, and once people get here they realise how good it is. We have such great staff in the department, and I have really to thank them all but especially Stewart Worthy, who will try to sort anything out. He always supports us at the concerts and is so helpful.”
Band members
Alistair Smith, Louise Belton, Matthew Bennett, Jess McInnes, Michael Harden, Rebecca Guillot, Jodie Vernon, Andrew Wake, Oliver Wootton, Jim Eberlin (DEP), Isobel Wilson, Jack Williams (ALUMNI), James Ellingford, Ben Freeland, Holly Jenkins, Maisie Saxon, Eli Clegg (DEP), Jim Fieldhouse (STAFF), Ethan Wood, Rebecca Lundberg, Alex Smith (Alumni), Fin Coupe, Jacob Hickson, Harriet Batchelor, Richard Andrewes, Leo Pollit, Madi Rowe, Adrian Austin, Nat W-H (DEP), Ben White, Alex Aver-Howdle, Will Savage (DEP), Jonathan Beatty (STAFF), Megan Brown.