Last night a great one with the Black Dyke Band, Manchester Chorale and Yorkshire Youth Brass. A powerful performance from Ian McMillan as well. Thanks to everyone who performed in it, those backstage who made it possible, and to the audience for coming. Here's to three more performances and the radio broadcasts!

Ian and Luke are at The Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester tomorrow for the premiere and BBC R3 recording of their new piece 'Pure Gold: A 4x4 Relay'. Have been to a rehearsal of it this week and the Black Dyke Band and Manchester Chorale sound incredible. Very exciting.

http://www.rncm.ac.uk/whats-on-mainmenu-47/explore-whats-on-mainmenu-95/icalrepeat.detail/2012/01/27/870/413/rncm-festival-of-brass-2012-black-dyke-band.html

On our way to Wakefield Theatre Royal for tonight's gig. If you're in the area, its at 1930.

The Ian McMillan Orchestra

Luke and Ian have been commissioned to write a piece for The Cultural Olympiad. It's part of a project run by the PRS Foundation called 20x12. There are 20 pieces in the project, all of which celebrate sport and culture in the UK in 2012.

http://www.prsformusicfoundation.com/Partnerships/Flagship-Programmes/New-Music-20x12

Our piece is called Pure Gold: A 4x4 Relay. It's written for one of the most prestigious brass bands in the UK: The Black Dyke, and the singers of The Manchester Chorale. Luke was interviewed by The Guardian about the project and part of the interview features here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/dec/22/bridging-music-sport-cultural-olympiad?newsfeed=true

The first piece in the project was broadcast on New Year's Day on Radio 3: Howard Skempton's lovely piece for Church Bells: '5 Rings Triples'.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b018mp23/A_Peal_for_New_Years_Day/

Next up is Anna Meredith's 'Hands Free' which premieres in Liverpool and London this week.

The first performance of our piece is at the Royal Northern College of Music on the 27th January. More details to follow.