The IBBSS

Daniel Thomas

Daniel Thomas hails from Rhymney in the South Wales valleys. He initially played percussion, but an obvious lack of promise soon facilitated a change to the euphonium when he was thirteen. He signed up for peripatetic brass lessons in Blaenau Gwent.  His first band was the now reformed Ebbw Vale Town Band, a local fourth section band who regularly came recruiting into local schools. Daniel competed in his first National Finals in 2009, aged just fifteen sitting on principal euphonium. 2009 was also the year that he successfully auditioned for the National Youth Brass Band of Wales and worked with such distinguished musicians as Stephen Cobb, Nicholas Childs and Edward Gregson.

Daniel then joined his first Championship section band, Markham and District, conducted by Nigel Seaman. He occupied the principal seat there for a year before being invited to join the Cory Band. This was also the year that he won the local ‘Caerphilly Young Musician of The Year’ competition, beating 140 musicians from schools throughout the borough.

Dan won the Welsh Area with the Cory, competed at the E.B.B.C. in Montreux and participated in many high-profile concerts. Unfortunately, due to new A-level commitments, Daniel had to relinquish his position at Cory and transferred to Cory’s local rivals, Tredegar. He is very proud to have participated in the band’s British Open win of 2013, also scooping up the ‘Best Euphonium’ prize for good measure. After two years, he then moved to study at the RNCM and took over from Ian Yates as the band’s second euphonium. Daniel was very fortunate to take part in winning performances at the Nationals, Europeans and Yorkshire Championships with Black Dyke, plus many high-profile concerts. Since starting his studies in Manchester, Daniel has participated in and won both the BBC Radio 2 Young Brass Award and the Euphonium Artist Competition at the I.T.E.C. (International Tuba Euphonium Conference) festival, held in Knoxville, Tennessee.

In 2017, Daniel won ‘Best Instrumentalist’ at the Yorkshire Regional Championships.