Black Dyke Mills Brass Band Trombone Section
Heralded as a leading figure in the worldwide brass community, Dr. Nicholas
Childs has rightfully achieved the highest international reputation as
a performer, teacher/clinician, conductor, interpreter and advocate of
new music, and producer of pacesetting recordings. Initial success came
as a euphonium soloist and partner with his talented brother, Dr. Robert
Childs, who together have literally toured the world as The Childs Brothers,
performing in many of the world's most famous concert halls with the
most prestigious bands and orchestras. Taking up the baton as a conductor,
Nicholas has had phenomenal success with many bands, including highly
acclaimed national championships. His current tenure as Principal Conductor
and Director of Music of the famous Black Dyke Band has been marked not
only with continued contest success, but with a series of innovative
concerts and world premieres of major works for brass band with a variety
of soloists and musical combinations.
He continues his advocacy of new music within the outstanding catalogue of brass and wind band recordings he has recorded and produced in his award-winning firm, Doyen Recordings. Not content with these activities, Dr. Childs is in great demand as a teacher, clinician, and consultant throughout the academic community. He serves as Senior Tutor in Brass Band Studies at the Royal Northern College of Music, where he has taught for over twelve years. Further honours have come with his appointment as Associate Conductor of the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain, and as Trustee of the Brass Band Heritage Trust.
In recent years Childs has premiered with Black Dyke Band new works
by leading British composers, including: Michael Ball - English Suite,
Cambrian Suite; Arthur Butterworth - Sinfonia Concertante; Martin Ellerby
- Concerto for Trombone and Brass Band; Philip Wilby - Concerto 1945
for Cornet and Brass Band, Concerto Grosso, and Concerto for Tenor Horn
and Brass Band. In June 2000 he directed Fodens in the premiere of Edward
Gregson's significant work, Trumpets of the Angels. He followed this
with the Royal Northern College of Music Brass Band's first presentation
of Danceries by Kenneth Hesketh. With Dr. Philip Wilby as Composer-in-Residence
of Black Dyke Band and Dr. Peter Graham as Associate Conductor of this
famed ensemble, Childs has presented innovative concert programs with
new and appealing music. Representative of these achievements was Graham's
Call of the Cossacks performed at the 2002 Gala Concert of the European
Brass Band Championships, Brussels. With Black Dyke Band Childs has featured
in some of the most recognized brass festivals, including several joint
concerts with the International Staff Band, especially the Gala Concerts
in London's Royal Albert Hall.
Childs has pursued a series of pace-setting recordings of much of this
new music, including Doyen releases showcasing the music of Michael Ball,
Arthur Butterworth, Peter Graham, and, with the International Staff Band,
the music of Wilfred Heaton. In the autumn of 2003 he and Black Dyke
will release a dynamic new recording celebrating the centenary of the
dean of 20th-century brass band composers, Eric Ball (1903-1989). With
Black Dyke Band as Band-in-Residence at the RNCM, Childs has been able
to promote the widest range of literature, several concerts of which
have also led to broadcasts on BBC Radio 3. One program representative
program included the January 2002 concert featuring Philip Wilby's Atlantic,
Michael Ball's Cambrian Suite, and Kenneth Hesketh's Alchymist's Journal,
the concert later broadcast in June, 2002.
As one of the world's most recognized masters of the euphonium and brass
specialist, Childs has performed and taught throughout the United Kingdom,
Europe, Australia, the Far East, Canada, and the United States. He has
appeared with such groups as the BBC Philharmonic, Hallé Orchestra,
United States Marine Band ("The President's Own"), and the
Canadian Brass. In addition, he has been featured with nearly every major
brass band throughout the world and many wind bands, especially in university
settings with the United States, where he has been equally acclaimed
for his teaching and clinic work.
With his roots in the British brass band tradition, having first been
trained in the Tredegar (Wales) Youth Band, Childs continues to give
important emphasis to the development of the brass band movement. This
comes via his commitment of the training of outstanding young musicians
both at the collegiate level and within the National Youth Brass Band
of Great Britain. He has taken his teaching and conducting skills to
a variety of outstanding brass bands outside the UK. He has served as
the director of The National Youth Brass Band of Denmark, and has gained
national championships in France, Norway, Wales and Scotland. He has
reached the pinnacle of success with two recent National Championships
of Great Britain, 1999 with Fodens, and 2001 with Black Dyke Band. His
company, Doyen Recordings, in cooperation with SP&S, Ltd., maintains
the largest catalogue of brass band recordings, The World of Brass, with
Doyen recording the widest range of ensembles, from Wind orchestras to
the finest Brass Bands.
Visit the band's site at www.blackdykeband.co.uk.