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San Francisco Brass Band
About
Founded in 2019 and based in San Jose, the San Francisco Brass Band (SFBB) is the sole nationally competitive British-style brass band on the West Coast. The mission of the SFBB is to represent the San Francisco Bay Area and the traditional British Brass Band genre regionally, nationally, and internationally, through exceptional musical performance, and community and educational outreach to improve access to high-quality performing arts, and promotion of traditionally underrepresented composers and performers in the brass band repertoire and culture. SFBB has competed in the North American Brass Band Association Championships every year since 2022. The band placed first in the Second Section in 2023, first in the First Section in 2024, and competed in the Championship Section for the first time in 2025, placing 6th. This trajectory, in its short existence, is unheard of in NABBA history.
Musical Director
Dr. Jeff de Seriere
Dr. Jeff de Seriere is the Director of Large Instrumental Ensembles at Cabrillo College, where he directs the Symphonic Winds and Symphonic Orchestra while teaching music theory, history, and chamber music. Alongside his work in higher education, he serves as the Music Director of the San Francisco Brass Band and YOSAL (Youth Orchestra Salinas), working with students in Grades 5–12. Previously, he served as the Interim Director of Bands at Wartburg College and was the founding director of the California School of the Arts – San Gabriel Valley. From 2014–2017, he led the nationally recognized Frederick Fennell Wind Studies Program at the Orange County School of the Arts. In 2021, he was honored with the 'Rising Star' award by the Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association for his work as an educator, clinician, and adjudicator. Dr. de Seriere’s leadership experience also includes roles as Music Director of the Catalyst Wind Collective, Symphonic Winds of the Pacific, and True Brass Choir, the latter of which performed at the 2016 California All-State Music Education Conference. In 2015, he appeared as a guest conductor with the United States Army Band 'Pershing’s Own.' Dr. de Seriere earned his Doctor of Music in conducting from Northwestern University and his master’s and bachelor’s degrees from the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at CSU Long Beach, studying under principal teachers Dr. Mallory Thompson, John Alan Carnahan, and Dr. Anthony Mazzaferro.
Choice Program
Antiphonies on Themes by William Byrd
Oliver Waespi
Program Notes
Antiphonies was commissioned by Philip Pearson for Nicholas Childs and the Black Dyke Band, who premiered the work at the 2023 European Brass Band Championships at Malmö Live in Malmö, Sweden. The piece takes its inspiration from the music of William Byrd (c. 1540–1623), drawing particularly on motives from his motet Sing Joyfully. Central to the work is the idea of antiphony - the spatial and musical dialogue between separated instrumental groups. From the opening bars, fragments of Byrd’s material are passed between contrasting sections of the band, transforming the motives into almost spatial objects. This broad, resonant opening gives way to more linear writing as the music becomes increasingly rhythmic-driven, with rising virtuosity in both solo and full-ensemble passages. A contrasting slow section follows, exploring the lyrical potential of the opening material. Here, a gently rotating chaconne-like harmonic structure creates a new sound world, allowing melodic gestures to unfold through intimate exchanges between soloists and small chamber groupings within the ensemble. This sense of reflection is soon interrupted by a renewed fast section, featuring highly virtuosic and at times frantic material that propels the narrative forward with energetic force. After a climactic burst of brilliance, the music gradually subsides into its final transformation. Isolated soloists recall distant echoes of the earlier lyrical material before the sound sinks into the lowest registers of the band. From this depth, slow-moving waves of sound emerge, expanding into a final, expansive antiphonal sound field that brings the work to a close. Antiphonies is an homage to William Byrd, composed to mark the 400th anniversary of his death in 2023. It is the composer’s second engagement with English Renaissance music, following Audivi Media Nocte (2011), based on a motet by Thomas Tallis - Byrd’s teacher. While Audivi Media Nocte evokes the imagery of night, Antiphonies, with its luminous harmonies and radiant sound fields, is a work rooted firmly in daylight.
NABBA Results History (5)
| Section | Best Finish | Wins |
|---|---|---|
| First | 1st | 1 |
| Second | 1st | 1 |
| Championship | 4th | — |
| Event | Section | Place | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Championships 2026 | Championship | 4th | 90.817 | |
| NABBA Championships 2025 | Championship | 6th | 89.233 | |
| NABBA Championships 2024 | First | 1st | 95.950 | |
| NABBA Championships 2023 | Second | 1st | 93.633 | |
| NABBA Championships 2022 | Second | 5th | 83.133 |