The fourth edition of the Mellieha International Band Festival will bring together five foreign bands, two Maltese brass groups, together with the two wind bands of the town, the Imperial and La Vittoria bands, in a brass and wind bands extravaganza. The festival will be held in Mellieha Parish Square starting from tomorrow until 20 April. The concert starts at 7pm under a big marquee.

The Mellieha International Band Festival is being sponsored by the Panorama Hotel and is supported by Mellieha local council and the Malta Tourism Authority. The international band festival offers music lovers the opportunity to enjoy local and international talent.

Participating Bands

Azur Brass (Norway) – brass group: Azur Brass is an 11-piece brass ensemble from the town of Bergen in Norway. All 11 musicians used to form part of Manger Musikklag which is one of the top European bands. This is Azur’s Brass second consecutive participation after a huge success during last year’s edition.

Blackpool Brass (England) – brass band: The band was formed in November 1966 – then known as the Blackpool Town Band. Later in 1973 it became the Dutton Forshaw Band and enjoyed 12 happy years of sponsorship. Since then, it has become one of the Fyldes leading concert and contesting bands. The band has qualified on many occasions for the National Brass Band Finals of Great Britain and in 1985 entered the World Music Contest at KerKrade in Holland coming home with the gold medal. The band took part in contests from Whitehaven through to Buxton and played many concerts around the North West, including one at the Grand Theatre, Blackpool. In 1990 the band renamed itself to “Blackpool Brass”, and have fortunately gone from strength to strength. This will be the band’s 2nd consecutive participation in the Mellieha International Band Festival.

Friendly Band/Sowerby Bridge (England) – brass band: The Friendly Band is a brass band based in Sowerby Bridge, near Halifax. The band has a long history, dating back to 1868, and continues to take a play a very active role in the brass band world, taking part in many contests, a wide range of other public engagements and a variety of private functions. Like Blackpool Brass, Friendly Band will be returning to Malta after a very successful participation during last year’s festival.

Wire Brass (England) – brass band: Wire Brass was formed in September 2001 out of musicians in the Warrington area. As from the following year, Wire Brass started participating in both regional and national competitions with great results. In fact during their first competition they took the top honours at the 3rd Section North West Regional Championships and qualified to participate in the 2nd Section Nationals. From that beginning the band never looked back and this year the band was awarded 1st prize in the 1st Section in the northwest Regional Championships. Wire Brass’ participation in the Mellieha International Band Festival is going to be their first performance outside the Britain.

London Concert Band (England) – concert band: The band was formed especially to take part in the Mellieha International Band festival 2006. Many of the musicians have played together before in various ensembles but this is the first time that they have played together as The London Concert Band. In 2005, the conductor Vivian Davies brought The Hertfordshire Concert Band to Mellieha and enjoyed the Festival so much that he decided to persuade the many fine musicians that he has met over the years to form a band to perform in Malta in 2006.

Ugo’s Ticos (Malta) – brass group: Ugo’s Ticos, had been officially inaugurated during a musical concert held on 12 January 2000. The band performs annually during the feast of St Joseph in Kalkara together with numerous other concerts aimed at both Maltese and tourists alike.

Big Band Brothers (Malta) – brass group: a 12-piece big band made up of talented people playing wind and percussion instruments in both commercial and theatrical activities. Its repertoire includes original music, classical, latin, jazz and pop music.

Imperial Band Club (Mellieha) – concert band: The Imperial Band was founded in 1928. Over the years it has given numerous concerts both locally and overseas the main ones being concerts it gave in Sicily, Germany and Tunisia.

La Vittoria Band Club (Mellieha) – the band was founded in 1907 thus making it the oldest band in Mellieha. The band gives regular concerts and has over the years visited Sicily and Tunisia.

As in previous years, the leading Norwegian conductor, Mr Helge Haukas will be returning to Malta to conduct, on the final night of the festival, the Mass Band consisting of over 150 musicians.

Festival Programme

Sunday 16 April: Azur Brass, London Concert Band, Blackpool Brass

Monday 17 April: Ugo’s Ticos, Friendly Band, Wire Brass

Tuesday 18 April: Azur Brass, Socjeta’ Filarmonika La Vittoria, Blackpool Brass

Wednesday 19 April: Big Band Brothers, Friendly Band, Wire Brass

Thursday 20 April: London Concert Band, Ghaqda Muzikali Imperial, Mass Band

A small contribution of Lm1.50 per night or Lm5.00 for the five nights is being asked to cover some of the costs of this event.

For more information on the Mellieha International Band Festival, kindly contact us on [email protected]