May 12, 2023

Victors from the North

After three Covid postponements the European Championship for Wind Orchestras finally landed in Amiens (FR).

The artistic level of all participants was incredibly high this year, but the championship title ultimately went to Musikkforeningen Nidarholm from Norway. With an excellent interpretation of the test piece ‘Mouvements Frénétiques’ by Alexandre Kosmicki and an outstanding performance of ‘Frozen Cathedral’ by John Mackey they moved many to tears. The top three was completed by the Koninklijke Harmonie van Peer (BE) and L’Orchestre d’Harmonie de la Région Centre (FR). The full results can be found at www.ecwo.eu.

The event was organised by the Confédération Musicale de France, on behalf of the European Championship for Wind Orchestras Association (ECWO) and it was supported by Buffet Crampon.

During this event ECWO wants to create a platform for wind band passionadas from all over Europe to connect. On Friday there was a conference on conducting courses, and on Saturday and Sunday the stage was given to Europe’s best wind orchestras.

After ten years and three championships president Berit Handegard (NO) handed over the torch to Jan Matthys from VLAMO (BE).

Quote Jan Matthys: “After ten pioneering years we’d like to thank Berit Handegard for the wonderful work she has done. Together with the board we now want to involve even more European countries, we will work on new partnerships and let the championship and the wind band movement develop further.”

The next edition of ECWO will take place in Oslo Concert Hall on May 25^th, 2024.