Conductors

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Dennis Hadfield - Musical Director

Dennis Hadfield hails from the west coast of Cumbria and started playing brass at an early age. He soon began a love affair with the tuba and became a member of his local brass band, Flimby Saxhorn Silver Band, The Cumbria County Youth Brass Band and the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain He left Cumbria in 1985 to pursue his studies at Huddersfield University where he joined Carlton Main Frickley Colliery Band and enjoyed a very happy 2 years with them. As a player he went on to play for Leyland Band and The Fairey Engineering Band.
In 1992 he joined Wingates Brass Band as Solo Eb Tuba and resident conductor. In 1994 he was invited to be guest conductor of the joint Coop bands at the Gala Concert of the National Finals at the Royal Albert Hall, an event that changed his outlook on his career.
In 1994 Dennis gave up playing to conduct full time. He started with Todmorden Old Brass Band and in 5 years turned them from a 4th section band to one of the top 10 bands in the country. In 2002 he took over as Musical Director of his own village band Dobcross Silver in Saddleworth, West Yorkshire and consequently they have risen to number 5 in the North West.
This year saw Dennis return to Carlton Main Frickley Colliery Band where he was appointed as the Musical Director.
In July he relinquished this position and became our MD and he is looking forward to helping our illustrious and historic band achieve success.
Dennis is a family man living in the beautiful Pennine village of Dobcross with his a wife, Amanda and his 2 year-old son, Ben. He works in Stockport and Calderdale as a Peripatetic Teacher of Brass and Curriculum music, and is a firm believer in the Brass Band Movement as a vehicle for amateur musicians to perform as a team to extremely high, almost professional standards.

Brett Baker - Associate Conductor

Brett is Black Dyke’s Principal Trombone and is one of Europe’s leading brass players and teachers. He is also a clinician for Michael Rath Musical Instruments Ltd.
Before the age of twenty-five Brett had won every major brass band competition, the Nationals, the British Open and the European Championships. He is currently the most recorded trombone soloist in the brass band movement and has been guest artist on six CDs this year alone. Brett is a past trombone solo champion of Great Britain and an Associate of the Royal College of Music.

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