“Brass Windows brought Durham Market Place to life; animating the square and the balconies which overlooked it in an unexpectedly rich and jazzy contribution to the annual Brass Festival. The layers of sound built as more and more instrumentalists joined in to the call and response between upper and lower levels, creating a little musical community and transporting us to some joyous Eastern European village.”
Stella Hall, FRSA, Canny Creative – British Council
Unexpectedly, windows on a high street or town square fly open and brass instrument players appear and start to play. More and more musicians appear to perform a composed piece.
Melding eastern European folk with British brass band traditions to transform the street into a ‘cuckoo clock world’ which we all become part of in a celebratory piece of music theatre.
Brass windows can be performed by local brass bands and/or with professional fan fara style musicians.
The core aim of this project is to work with brass music in an unusual setting and theatrical context in collaboration with a traditional brass band. We are interested in the history of the brass band and its social context. We would, ideally, hope that this project will help to support extension of this tradition within a contemporary context.