Australia's Premier Brass Band
Unfortunately, due to an on-going injury, the band’s principal cornet Paula Russell will be unable to join the band on their championship quest. However, Brisbane XLCR is extremely excited to welcome the talented cornet soloist and current Leyland Principal Cornet Iain Culross to the hot seat. Iain will be playing alongside the band as well as leading workshops and teaching private lessons on his little antipodean excursion.
As a direct result of the decision to go to New Zealand, XLCR will not be travelling to Launceston to defend the 2016 National Australian Championship title they won in Gawler, South Australia.
XLCR has won the Australian Championship title eight times in the last twelve years but were pipped in Sydney back in 2015 by Wellington Brass. The opportunity for the band to compete against its NZ foe once again, especially in the current NZ Champions’ home city of Wellington, is just too great an opportunity to pass up.
As an organisation, XLCR look at a multitude of aspects when choosing where to travel with the band. Along with cost and logistics, XLCR’s friendly rivalries with New Zealand’s Elite Bands and the opportunity to perform in one of Australasia’s top concert venues in the Michael Fowler Centre have proved massive drawcards. Further to this, the band has history in New Zealand having won two New Zealand titles in the last decade.
Band president Gareth Lawless said:
“Whilst I accept it is unfortunate to not be going to defend our Australian title, it is the right decision for our Band. Both the MD and the committee feel that this years’ New Zealand Contest has the potential to be one of the most memorable in recent times for Australasian Banding. The world class concert hall and exemplary organisation of NZ contests make it such an attractive option for the band. When you add the rivalry with a number of the top NZ bands into the mix, the trip truly becomes a mouth-watering prospect for the playing members”.
GARETH LAWLESS, PRESIDENT
Brisbane XLCR have been in fine form in the recent months, recording 2 CDs, performing with award winning local choirs and taking stride in their own concert series. However, it is on the contest stage where the band really finds its footing. The band’s Musical Director, Howard Taylor cannot wait to conduct the band in NZ:
“I’ve been looking forward to returning to NZ with XLCR for many years now. I hope we can re-create that special magic from 10 years ago after a double win at the NZ contest in 2007/08.”
HOWARD TAYLOR, MUSICAL DIRECTOR
We’ve had a bit of a facelift and we’re super excited to finally launch our new website that has been in the works for several months now.
We’ve decided to include player profiles, an online ticketing system that allows our concert goers to purchase their tickets using their debit/credit cards, we’ve got a brand new shop and are planning on bringing in merchandise very soon. We’ve also included ways to share our pages through social media using the buttons below each of the articles.
Currently, we’re working towards integrating the Windsor side of the players profiles and the Windsor events – so watch this space!
If you have any questions please feel free to shoot us a message through our contact page.
Happy browsing!
As we hurtle towards the end of the year we would like to wish all of our friends, families, supporters and fellow musicians an extremely Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thank you for all of your support throughout the previous year and we know that you will continue to do the same into 2017.
We at XLCR resume in Mid-January, and cannot wait to start rehearsing for the New Zealand Championships in Wellington!
It’s that time of year again – Christmas decorations, Christmas Carols, and of course, the annual Brisbane XLCR Inc. Band Awards Social event.
After our first BBQ last year, the band decided to hold another at Colleges Crossing, Ipswich for members of both Brisbane XLCR and Windsor Bands. Lots of food and drink were consumed and the band says a huge thanks to everyone who helped, but especially Michael Martin, Ross Moloney and Gareth Lawless for their contributions to the day. With the huge numbers of band children we were even blessed to have a visit by Santa Claus himself, who brought fantastic toys for all the children of the organization.
For Windsor, the award winners were:
For XLCR, the award winners were: