North Shore Brass celebrates 95 years of history this year and will again compete in the A
grade at the NZ National Brass Band Championships in Blenheim assisted by Belgian cornet
star Harmen Vanhoorne.
“We are proud of our support from our community for nearly a century and because of that
support we are able to bring Harmen to New Zealand, with the assistance of local music
business ABI Music and Besson Instruments. He will be taking workshops, individual lessons
and he will feature with three of our bands at Contest Prelude on 8 July” says band
president Owen Melhuish
Harmen was a child star entering the Kunsthumaniora for gifted musicians in Leuven at the
age of only 14 before going on to further study in trumpet and cornet gaining a Masters
Degree with highest distinction at the Lemmens Institute in Leuven Belgium.
The North Shore Brass family has grown in recent months with the formation of the
Takapuna Youth Brass under conductor Mark Close. “This is a reflection of our teaching
programmes, strong support from within our organization as well as the work of many
teachers at our Academy” says Melhuish. Their debut performance will be at Contest
Prelude on Sunday 8 July at the Owen Goodwin Theatre Birkdale Intermediate School.
For a feast of music featuring top musicians performing repertoire for the 2018 NZ National
Brass Band Championships as well as our developing musicians in the North Shore Brass
Academy Band and Takapuna Youth Brass we invite our supporters along to enjoy music
serious and not so serious.