Six composers from the Royal Academy of Music, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) will each work with an existing school big band from autumn 2024 to spring 2025, creating original charts of around 5 minutes’ duration.
The participating schools and composers are:
Northampton School for Boys Big Band Ollie Canham
Altrincham Grammar School for Boys Big Band Ted Ford
Wrekin College Jazz Band, Telford Ben Partridge
Stafford Grammar School Big Band Kamea Nemeth
The Barry Graham Big Band at Kingsdale Foundation
School, Dulwich, London Donovan Haffner
Trinity School Big Band, Croydon, London Chris Diamand
The school big bands will receive three visiting sessions from their composer, each of whom will be mentored by one of jazz professionals Nikki Iles, Ed Puddick, Callum Au, Andy Scott, and Iain Dixon. The process will be an interactive one, with composers hearing their pieces as they develop while receiving practical feedback from the school bands and their musical directors.
The charts will be premiered at the NCBF National Festival at the RNCM on 12 and 13 April 2025.
It is envisaged that each new chart will be included on the NCBF Big Band Repertoire List for the following season.
