A principal musician with the Hallé Orchestra has become the new musical director of The City of Chester Band.
Tuba player Ewan Easton studied at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) before spending 19 years with the Ulster Orchestra and currently teaches at the RNCM. He also works as a conductor, arranger and adjudicator.
Having taught at all levels of education, Ewan has organised performance workshops and masterclasses throughout Britain and Ireland.
Since 2004 Ewan has led a project, Hallé4Brass, in which musicians from the orchestra offer young people in the last two years of their sentence at Thorn Cross Young Offenders Institute the opportunity to learn to read and play music. This pioneering project has led to a number of awards and honours being bestowed upon Ewan for his skills in education, notably his inclusion in the 2010 New Year’s Honours list as a Member of the Order of the British Empire.
In his younger days Ewan played at the highest level in British brass bands, as a member of the Brighouse and Rastrick Band but it’s working with community-based bands, where the emphasis is on commitment as much as technical prowess, that Ewan gets most satisfaction.
Whilst working in Northern Ireland Ewan joined a band comprising just 18 players. Within four years membership had increased to 75 playing in different ensembles serving age and ability. Ewan is currently preparing the City of Chester main band to play in the second section of the NW Regional Qualifying Championships at The Winter Gardens, Blackpool on Sunday, February 28.
On Saturday, February 20 the City of Chester Band has been invited to play in Crewe at the Manchester Metropolitan University in a concert in which all the test-pieces to be played in the five sections (championship, first, second, third and fourth) at Blackpool will be heard with open adjudication. The event starts at 7pm and is open to all.
If you would like to learn to play a brass instrument contact Tony Blain on 07913 109951. More experienced players should contact Kate Harland: krhartland@hotmail.com.
