30th edition
The 30th Annual European Brass Band Championships takes place April 28th – May 6th 2007 and features a week long series of brass band events that make up the now familiar European Championships format.

Soloist Competition
This year’s event features the European Soloist Competition which for the first time ever includes two soloist percussion rounds on Xylophone and Marimba along with the usual brass soloist rounds. The total of participating soloists is 63.

Judges for the solo events involve experts on percussion playing, Simone Rebello and James Strebing. The overall winner of the European Soloist Competition will go on to perform a concerto with The Staffordshire Band in the Gala Concert at the Sir Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham. Premier will be presenting trophies to the winners of each of the three soloist percussion rounds at the awards ceremony, which follows the Gala Concert.

Band Competition
The Championships themselves will take place at Symphony Hall, Birmingham on 4th/5th May and feature a total of twelve bands from across Europe, including defending champion Brass Band Willebroek from Belgium.

There is also an exciting ‘B’ section contest giving developing European bands the opportunity to compete on a European stage. Each Championship band will perform Elgar Variations, an especially commissioned work by Martin Ellerby commemorating Elgar’s 150th anniversary year. A short but challenging work by Simon Dobson, The Drop, will provide the test piece for the ‘B’ Section entrants.

Grand Gala Concert
The Grand Gala Concert follows the final performance of the European Brass Band Championships at the Symphony Hall with performances from the Willebroek Brass Band, Belgium (European Champions 2006), the European Youth Brass Band and the Royal Marines Fanfare of Trumpets and Corps of Drums. The EBBC awards ceremony will be held at the end of the concert where the 2007 champions will receive their prizes.