The National Youth and Children’s Concert Bands were founded to nurture talented young woodwind, brass and percussion players of all backgrounds from across the UK, and as a flagship for promoting the wind band and its vibrant and varied repertoire. 

Our young musicians are tutored and conducted by some of the UK’s leading professional musicians and educators, who are all specialists in their field. Our music tutors have a broad range of experience teaching at highly respected institutions, as well as performing as soloists, playing in professional orchestras and working in the West End. In recent years, we have welcomed guests including Jess Gillam, Paul Harris and Issie Barratt to lead workshops for our young musicians. The Spring 2024 course featured Helen Vollam (Principal Trombone of the BBC Symphony Orchestra) as guest soloist, playing Kirkfeld by Grant Kirkhope.

Playing in the National Youth and Children's Concert Bands gives our players the opportunity to experience new music and always enjoy working on contemporary repertoire by composers including Nigel Clarke, Nicola Renshaw, Johan de Meij and Kenneth Hesketh. In 2021, NYCB performed the world premiere of “Now You Can Believe”, written for NYCB by Anne Chmelewsky and look forward to commissioning more new work for the genre in the future.

We also take great pride in our dedicated team of qualified pastoral staff, who are on-site 24/7 to make sure everyone is happy and healthy, putting on entertainment in the evenings and providing any support that’s needed. Safeguarding and the well-being of our course members is of primary importance to the National Youth Concert Band CIC.