New Commission for Festival

Matthew was commissioned to compose a brand new work for the 2011 Ironbridge Gorge Brass Band Festival. The festival took place over the weekend of Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th July at The Museum of Iron at Ironbridge in Shropshire.

2011 marked the 25th anniversary of Ironbridge becoming a World Heritage Site. Matthew was asked to write a new piece to celebrate this anniversary to be performed during the ‘centrepiece’ Last Night of The Proms concert on the Saturday night of the festival.

Tongwynlais Temperance Band and Wellington (Telford) Town Band combined for the final section of the concert, during which time the new composition, entitled Spanning Revolutions, received its premiere performance.

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World Heritage site

2011 represents the 25th anniversary of The Ironbridge Gorge being made a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and to celebrate, the festival commissioned a new piece from the pen of one of the banding world’s rising compositional stars – Matthew Hall.  

Matt conducted the world premiere of ‘Spanning Revolutions‘, a real highlight of the entire weekend, with the music capturing the industrial history and heritage of the Ironbridge Gorge beautifully, complete with the inclusion of an historic anvil played by the compere. 

It made for visual as well as aural delight.