Fodens Courtois Band have announced the appointment of Bryan Hurdley to the post of resident conductor. Following quickly on from the news of Bramwell Tovey's appointment as Principal Conductor, Fodens have unveiled another astute appointment.

The band's Chairman Colin Short said, "I am very pleased to be able to make the announcement that Bryan Hurdley has accepted the position of Resident Conductor. We saw this appointment as a crucial factor to the band's continued success and we feel that Bryan has all the necessary attributes to keep us moving forward and striving for excellence in our music. Naturally he brings a wealth of experience with him from his very successful years spent at Faireys and more recently at Mount Charles. Bryan is undoubtedly the premiere band trainer around and he will be a great asset to Fodens. We are delighted with the appointment"

Bryan's first official engagement will be to direct the band at the highly prestigious Benjamin Britten Festival at Snape on 20th August, which will include works such as Comedy Overture, Variations on an Enigma, the Horovitz Euphonium Concerto and Diversions on a Bass Theme in the programme. He will then turn his attention to preparing the band for the British Open and to working on the performance with recently appointed Principal Conductor, Bramwell Tovey.

Bryan Hurdley was born in Ironbridge, Shropshire and at the age of 11 began playing the Euphonium. His early musical education was under the guidance of Colin Jones MBE and in 1986 he won a scholarship to the Birmingham Conservatoire where he studied Trombone and Euphonium with Dennis Wick and Conducting with Adrian Leaper.

Whilst in his second year he gained distinction in teaching, performing and recital diplomas and was the winner of many prestigious performance prizes including the Birmingham Midlands Institute prize, Rollinson and Doris Newton prizes and the coveted Concerto prize.

A founder member of the English Tuba Consort, Bryan has travelled widely including most of Europe, Scandinavia, New Zealand and the USA.

He has an impressive list of recordings for Radio & Television, numerous CDs to his credit and as a Tenor Tuba player has worked with most of the countries finest orchestras including The Philharmonia, The Royal Philharmonic and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

Over recent years, Bryan has enjoyed an increasing reputation as one of the finest conductors and band trainers of his generation with particular speciality in the contemporary repertoire. He has conducted many of the world's most famous bands including Black Dyke, Grimethorpe and Desford.

In January 1989, Bryan was appointed Musical Director to the Sunlife Band, a position he held with distinction until his appointment in June 1995 as Resident Conductor of the world famous Williams Fairey Band. 1998 saw a change of direction and a greater emphasis on education bringing him to Cornwall with the appointment as Music Director to the Mount Charles. His move to Sandbach in August 2000 sees an exciting new chapter in his conducting career as he takes up the appointment of Resident Conductor, in their Centenary year, with the famous Fodens Courtois Band.