AUSTRALIA'S best brass and concert bands will spend Easter duking it out in Newcastle as the genre's top competition resumes after a four-year break.
Roughly 70 brass and concert bands will perform in the National Band Championships, as well as more than 200 instrumental soloists on Easter Monday.
The event runs throughout the long weekend and spans the Civic Theatre and Newcastle City Hall. Past host cities include Adelaide, Launceston and Melbourne.
Band Association of NSW's Jeff Markham, the championships organising committee' chairman, said the event would be a crescendo after a difficult few years.
"We are so fortunate to be holding the 2023 National Band Championships in beautiful Newcastle and encourage the community to come along to hear some of the best music making in Australia," Mr Markham said.
"There will be more than 200 beautiful pieces of music performed this weekend, and we have multiple Australian brass band and concert bands debuting new compositions for our audiences to enjoy.
"Along with all our talented musicians for the community to enjoy, we will also be holding a free trade show featuring fantastic music retail and industry stall holders.
Newcastle Permanent's chief distribution officer Paul Juergens said the building society was proud to be a sponsor.
"This is such an exciting event for Newcastle," he said. "We're anticipating around 9000 people to attend, as well as some 45,000 people across the globe to live stream the event."
Tickets are available via the Civic Theatre, with livestreaming through brassbanned.com.
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