Formed in Manchester in 2022, Phoenix Brass are one of the top quintets and most exciting young chamber groups to come out of the city in recent years. Made up of eminent Manchester freelancers and senior students of the Royal Northern College of music, the group formed quite literally out of the ashes of the acclaimed Whitworth Septet, but are now forging a path of their own, reaching the semi-finals of this year’s Philip Jones International Brass Ensemble Competition against stiff competition. Phoenix’s members hail from incredibly diverse backgrounds and are brought together by a love of brass ensemble music and the desire to expand this repertoire – each member of the group is a keen arranger and the Quintet recently gave a Thursday Evening Spotlight recital at the RNCM, with a programme made up entirely of their own arrangements of music from the Cathedral evensong oeuvre (and a Norwegian film medley encore!). The group make the most of the incredible opportunities at the RNCM and regularly receive coaching from such renowned brass musicians as Murray Greig and John Miller. Aside from the quintet, the members of the group are keen orchestral musicians and freelance regularly with the top orchestras in the North West, such as the Hallé Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestra of Opera North
