David Childs is regarded as one of the finest brass musicians of his generation. He has appeared as a soloist with the BBC, Manchester and RTÉ Concert Orchestras, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Philharmonic, Philharmonie Baden-Baden, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonia Cymru, Welsh National Opera, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and many of the finest brass bands and military bands throughout the world. He has made solo appearances at the Singapore International Festival, Harrogate International Festival, Cheltenham Festival, Melbourne International Festival, the BBC Proms and New York Festival, and given solo recitals at Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room and The Bridgewater Hall.

He is a keen advocate of new music, and has premiered 16 concertos for euphonium including a Royal Albert Hall BBC Proms broadcast of Alun Hoddinott’s The Sunne Rising – The King Will Ride, and the Carnegie Hall US premiere of Karl Jenkins’ Concerto for Euphonium and Orchestra.

David Childs is currently Distinguished Research Professor of Euphonium at the University of North Texas, and holds the positions of visiting professor at Tokyo’s Senzoku Gakuen College of Music and international visiting tutor at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, where he was made a fellow in 2024. David Childs is a Buffet Crampon Besson Artist.

www.davechilds.com

Black Dyke Band holds the highest rank in the worldwide brass band community. It has continued to win significant competitions under its music director, Nicholas Childs, and in 2015 the band became European Champion Band for the 13th time – in 2014 the band, for the 30th time, was declared British Open Champions. The band has also been National Champion of Great Britain on 24 occasions. In 2009, and again in 2011, 2012 and 2013, it became Champion Band at the English National Championships.

Black Dyke Band is the most recorded band in the world, with over 370 recordings and the number growing every year. Under Nicholas Childs, it has received multiple CD of the Year awards in the brass press. The band has appeared in major concerts halls around the world from New York to Tokyo and has appeared at the BBC Proms. Its performing and recording schedule can be considered among the busiest and most productive of any British brass band. The band logo of the stag’s head and Latin quotation are taken from the armorial bearings granted in 1857 to John Foster, founder of the band. The quotation translates to ‘Act Justly and Fear Nothing.’

www.blackdykeband.co.uk

Photo: John Stirzaker

Nicholas Childs has achieved the highest international reputation as a performer, teacher, conductor, interpreter and advocate of new music, and producer of pace-setting recordings. His current tenure as principal conductor and music director of Black Dyke Band has been marked with continued contest success, including the British Open, and National and European Brass Band Championships. Further acclaim has come for his many innovative concerts and world premieres. His recordings with Black Dyke Band have been heralded as the very best in the brass band world, winning multiple CD of the Year awards.

With his roots in the British brass band tradition, Nicholas Childs continues to give particular emphasis to the development of the brass band movement through his commitment to training outstanding young musicians. He is the artistic director and founder of the Yorkshire Youth Brass Band, and a former music director of the National Children’s Brass Band of Great Britain. He also serves as professor of music at both the Royal Northern College of Music and Tokyo’s Senzoku Gakuen College of Music in Japan.