Musical Director
Paul Holland BMus(Hon)
Paul was born and educated in South Wales. By the age of 16 he had already served as Solo Horn to numerous ensembles including the National Youth Brass Band of Wales, Parc and Dare and Tredegar Town Bands. Paul continued to fulfil his early musical promise being invited to join the world famous Black Dyke Mills Band at the tender age of 18.
Paul enjoyed huge concert and contest success with Black Dyke and made several CD, radio and television appearances with celebrities such as Elton John, Jools Holland, Tori Amos, The Beautiful South and Sting. Paul was fortunate to be part of the team that made the “Grand Slam” of Brass Band titles being the European, British Open and National Titles in the same year.
During his time with Black Dyke Paul played with other fine bands such as YBS, Brighouse and Rastrick, Leyland, Grimethorpe and Fodens when required. As a student at the Huddersfield University he studied music and furthered his musical education under the guidance of Phillip McCann, Geoffrey Whitham, Sandy Smith and many other eminent brass band professionals and personalities. Outside of University life Paul’s main influence and passion for conducting came from Nicholas Childs, Allan Withington and particularly James Watson who was the conductor at Black Dyke during his tenure there. Paul honed his teaching and conducting skills from the wealth of experience from the people he surrounded himself with whilst in Yorkshire and then returned to South Wales to settle close to his roots with an honours degree in Music.
Paul spent six years as Musical Director of the Newbridge band where he led them through a period of unparalleled success in their history. As one of the most successful young conductors in Wales Paul’s contest wins stretched from Third section to Championship section, incorporating 19 wins in total during his partnership with Newbridge. Of note were League Champions of Wales 4 times, Champion Band of Wales 4 times and Champion Band of Great Britain 2nd Section.
In addition to conducting Paul spent many years studying the adjudication process and, under the guidance of C.Brian Buckley, focussed this interest further culminating in his inclusion within the Association of Brass Band Adjudicators (ABBA). Paul has adjudicated at numerous high profile contests including the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain, the National Eisteddfod of Wales to name a few. Paul now enjoys a very active schedule of conducting and adjudicating appointments throughout the UK.
In April 2009 Paul became the Musical Director of the Flowers band where he continues to conduct them in high profile concerts and contests throughout the year. Under his direction Flowers achieved their highest ever placing at the National Championships of Great Britain and were crowned West of England Champions on each of his contest debuts.