WMC Kerkrade Retrospective

The WMC (World Music Contest), World Music Contest in Kerkrade in the Netherlands might give us an insight into the scene. Often referred to as a “laboratory for wind music” It is the largest wind music festival in the world and a well-known music competition for all types of wind music, and this year, it took place for the 19th time.

If we take a look at the number of participants, unfortunately, even at the WMC, we can see a negative trend. Compared to the last festival in 2017, there were 25% fewer participants in Kerkrade. According to artistic director Björn Bus, there are many reasons for this, including uncertainties connected with COVID-19, the war in Ukraine and the economic crisis. Above all, bands from Asia and the American continents did not come this year. Nevertheless, with 15,000 participants and hundreds of thousands of visitors, the three-week festival was more than successful.

A Diverse Programme

The WMC programme is broad and very diverse, with numerous concerts, open-air events and a large competition for all wind music disciplines.

The "World Championships" for wind bands and percussion ensembles in all the various divisions took place in the two well-attended concert halls of Kerkrade. As expected, the turn out was better for the performances in the higher divisions.

It was particularly exciting to see the bands performing at the highest level, the Concert Division, presenting a full music programme including singing, dance, theatre and visual effects. These extensive performances presented a kind of “total art” in a way not often seen in the world of wind music. With this 'experiment', the WMC really lived up to its name as a the “Wind Music Lab” of the world. The performance of the Gelders Fanfare Orkest deserves a special mention, performing a musical space journey entitled XPLORE!, that won them the award for the most innovative programme in the top fanfare orchestra division.

Unfortunately, there was much less interest in the marching and show band competitions than expected. This may be partly to do with the notable absence of the Asian and North American participants who are usually well presented in these categories. However, the lower visitor numbers might also reflect a general declining public interest in these disciplines.

In the folk music category, there is an interesting connection between WMC and the Woodstock der Blasmusik (Woodstock of Wind Music). The band competition Copa Kapella at WMC is widely considered to be the pre-selection for the Woodstock Wind Music Festival, which will take place in 2023 in the Austrian Innkreis. It is fascinating to see how this wind music discipline is enjoying a huge popularity boost since it updated its repertoire, which was once considered dusty and old-fashioned among teenagers and young adults.

The concert series held parallel to the competitions was also a great success, with sold-out concerts by the Banda Sinfónica Municipal de Madrid, who put on an amazing show with singers, instrumental soloists and a dance group, the United States Marine Band, Brass Band Willebroek and the Black Dyke Band as well as the German Pop Wind Band Querbeat.

There were many great, positive reactions to the free and extremely varied open-air programme, which featured a wonderful selection of youth ensembles, big bands, modern brass bands, and both local and professional wind bands throughout the city. Cover bands with wind instruments were also given a place in the programme. This offered the participants the opportunity to get to know other wind music styles.

It was also nice to see due attention paid to promoting young people. As part of the WMC Academy, the world's most promising artists between the ages of 18 and 23 came together in the World Youth Brass Band. The Young Generation Project saw several youth orchestras mixing with great success to form new formations and the international conductors’ competition, as well the various workshops and master classes attracted many international participants. Concerts were held where young and old from different parts of the world could listen and learn from each other. This Academy programme shows once again that the WMC wants to play a leading role in the future of wind music and is always on the lookout for new formats.

In general, it is fair to say that the organisational team at the WMC has tried to establish cross-connections within wind music, both between different age groups and between different wind music and art forms. This was very positively received by spectators and participants alike.