Durham Brass Festival 2025

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BRASS is back in 2025 with a fantastic programme of brass-inspired events coming to Durham from 13 - 20 July, with a headline performance by Bill Ryder-Jones.

In a first for the event, Durham Brass Festival hosts Radio 4 Loose Ends on Wednesday 16 July. Writer and broadcaster Stuart Maconie will host the programme from the festival in an edition that celebrates music, comedy and entertainment from and about the North East. This special one-off show will feature a fantastic guest panel including Poet Laureate Simon Armitage, Girl on the Train author Paula Hawkins, and comedian Ria Lina, with more high-profile guests in the pipeline. This special broadcast of Loose Ends takes place at Redhills and is a ticketed event.
 

On Sunday 13 July, the BRASS Tea Dance takes place at Bishop Auckland Town Hall. People can dance the afternoon away at this traditional social gathering with live music from the fantastic Tyne Valley Big Band, led by musical director Dave Hignett and accompanied by the fabulous vocals of Barbara Hignett. Festival-goers can show off their moves in the popular sequence dancing or sit back and enjoy the music and refreshments. This event is ticketed

Supporting Bill Ryder-Jones at Gala Durham on Tuesday 15 July is Pet Snake, the solo project of Evelyn Halls (Clean Cut Kid). After spending the last decade playing and writing for others, Evelyn has taken strides to carve out her own path. Lo-fi folk meets expansive indie pop with nods to early 2000s grunge, Pet Snake creates a sonic landscape that’s both nostalgic and fresh while delivering every word with a voice that can silence even the rowdiest of rooms.

Making a return to the festival is the annual Party In The Park on Saturday 19 July. Taking place at the fantastic amphitheatre in Wharton Park, this free to attend event provides a unique way to experience the high energy performances from the street bands that will gather from across the UK and beyond to perform at this year’s festival. 

Come rain or shine, this is always an unmissable part of the festival. 

The bands that will be appearing are as follows:

•    Always Drinking Marching Band: an artistic production company specialising in music, theatre and clowning.
•    Brazen Band: a collection of the UK’s finest female brass and percussion players.
•    Das Brass: a virtuosic ensemble of jazz maestros who thrive on bringing the party to life.
•    Diddy Sweg: uniting all beings from all corners of the galaxy through the universal language of music.
•    John Birks Orchestra: a sonic laboratory where hip hop, funk, jazz, Latin rhythms, and Brazilian choro blend into a fresh, explosive sound.
•    Mr Wilson’s Second Liners: an anarchic, street extravaganza, bursting with colour and sound, rallying impromptu raves on street corners and rousing audiences young and old into a joyful frenzy.
•    New York Brass Band: North Yorkshire’s only contemporary New Orleans inspired Brass Band.
•    Rajasthan Heritage Brass Band: an esteemed ensemble of exceptionally skilled musicians hailing from the culturally rich state of Rajasthan, India.
•    Yorky Pud Street Band: a heaping of jazz, a dash of oom-pah, stir in some mash-ups, and give it a New York subway busking flair.
•    Young Pilgrims: a jazz influenced, rock induced, nine-piece brass band, known for intense live performances.

These very same acts will also be performing in outdoor locations across Durham City over the closing weekend (Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 July.) The free to attend Streets of Brass provides a fresh and non-traditional take on what it means to be a brass band.

Over the weekend (Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 July), Durham Brass Festival will also take over the street and the water with Brass Boat Cruises. People can cruise along the River Wear on the Prince Bishop, with an amazing street band on board. They can enjoy wonderful music and gorgeous views of Durham City, with an atmosphere that won’t be forgotten. The 60-minute cruise will sail from the Boathouse beneath Elvet Bridge to St Hild and St Bede College, and back via Prebends Bridge. This event is ticketed.

Durham Brass Festival won Performance of the Year at the 2024 North East Culture Awards for Public Service Broadcasting featuring NASUWT Riverside Band and Felling Male Voice Choir. 

Performers for this year previously announced include Bill Ryder-Jones, Barry Hyde, Simon Armitage and LYR, Brassed On, NETOA Wurlitzer and Stanhope Silver Band, and The Fairey Band. 

Bill Ryder-Jones will perform his critically acclaimed and much-loved album Iechyd Da in full, for a special, one-off show with NASUWT Riverside Band at Gala Durham.

The Futureheads’ frontman Barry Hyde will perform music from his forthcoming concept solo album, Miners’ Ballads with the Durham Miners Association Brass Band. Commissioned by Sunderland City Council and Paul Emerson, the record is inspired by the coal mining heritage of the North East of England with emphasis on Sunderland and
Washington.

On Friday 18 July, the festival will host BBC Radio 4’s The Adverb with presenter Ian McMillan, featuring Simon Armitage and LYR performing Firm As A Rock with Easington Colliery Band at Redhills Durham Miners Hall.

Brassed On will present a show which pairs North East artists including Faithful Johannes, Amateur Ornithologist and Liz Corney. The performance takes place on Saturday 19 July and is in partnership with BBC Music Introducing and NARC. Magazine.

Also performing on Saturday 19 July are the NETOA Wurlitzer and Stanhope Silver Band. Howard Beaumont, together with the Stanhope Silver Band will perform a wide variety of music - old and new, popular and classical with world famous NETOA Wurlitzer.

On Sunday 20 July, The Fairey Band presents a spectacular concert of music and animation, performing a brass arrangement of Pictures at an Exhibition to accompany animated interpretations of Mussorgsky’s masterpiece. The animations, created by Ion Concert Media in collaboration with the USC School of Cinematic Arts, bring Mussorgsky’s musical response to Hartmann’s visual to life, offering an immersive experience filled with rich fantasy, whimsiness, and adventure.

In a first for Durham Brass Festival and also performing on Sunday 20 July, The Fairey Band presents Acid Brass, its take on Acid House anthems with a traditional brass band.

Tickets, where appropriate, are on sale now. For more information, visit Durham Brass Festival's website.