About Us

Formed in 1891, Woolston Brass is one of Christchurch’s most established amateur arts institutions. Playing an integral part in the musical life of Canterbury the band boasts a proud history of community involvement - supporting the development of local musicians and providing high quality musical performance.

With a playing strength of nearly forty musicians, ranging in age from sixteen to sixty, Woolston embraces members from all walks of life – business and trades people, teachers, students, soldiers and senior citizens. Drawn together by the common bond of a love of music these amateur musicians achieve professional standards in their pursuit of excellence.

Repertoire

An innovative leader, Woolston Brass has always been at the cutting edge of the expanding brass band repertoire. The band also enjoys performing jazz and orchestral classics and strives to present its culturally unique music to the wider public whenever possible.

Contest Success

Woolston is one of New Zealand’s premier brass bands – the Crusaders of the band movement. They boast a record of championship successes unsurpassed among New Zealand brass bands, gaining the Champion Band of New Zealand title twenty-one times since 1971. The band has also won the Edinburgh Festival Contest, gained fifth place in the British Open Championship and won the Australian Championships.

International touring

One of the few New Zealand bands to tour overseas, Woolston Brass is widely travelled and its travelogue records visits to Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. Most recently the band toured Great Britain and competed in the British Open Brass Band Contest, proving itself to be amongst the world’s best brass bands.

Musical Director

Over the years Woolston Brass has enjoyed a long line of distinguished conductors. These include R.J.(Dick) Estall, Mervyn Waters, Ken Smith and the recently retired David Gallaher, under whose ten-year tenure the band achieved a remarkable contesting record including a hat-trick of National Championship wins in 2000, 2001, and 2002.

The band has recently appointed Graham Hickman as Musical Director. Graham has extensive conducting experience with orchestras, jazz bands, choirs, concert bands and brass bands, including five years as the professional conductor of the world renowned New Zealand Army Band.

Possessing a diverse musical background Graham holds national titles on cornet and flugel horn, and has performed with groups as varied as the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the National Band of New Zealand and the Victoria Big Band. 

Education

Woolston Brass takes great pride in its education programme. Starting as the Woolston School of Brass in the early 1990’s the programme has grown to include two training bands, JB1 (short for Woolston Junior Band) aimed at the primary school level, and WCB (short for Woolston Concert Band), covering the secondary level. The aim of the educational programme is to promote the art of music making and encourage the cultural diversity of the people of Canterbury.