NEW artistic director of Durham Brass Festival, Paul Gudgin, has found his biggest challenge is coming to the decade-established event with fresh ideas.

“Wanting to add something new and different is difficult while not distracting from what’s there while finding new formulas. There is a big spectrum of events and that was part of what I was asked to achieve by ensuring we can attract someone major like the BBC Big Band (Durham Gala Theatre, July 13), do something incredible with street bands and add in a bit of Northern Soul as well.

“The only way this collective of performers makes any sense is that it’s all based around brass,” says the man who has worldwide festival experience, including Edinburgh Festival Fringe and events in New Zealand and Canada.

Moving from multi-million-pound budgets in Edinburgh to the £300,000 allocated to Durham’s festival, at a time of arts austerity must have tested Gudgin’s ability to book all the artists he wanted. “Every festival is under financial pressure at the moment and what that means is compromises. We’re very proud of the festival, but what you don’t see is the events we haven’t been able to put on because there isn’t quite enough money. It’s an incredibly difficult time for festivals, and this is my first event as the person completely in charge. The one thing I won’t tell you is the people I couldn’t get this year, because almost all of them I will want to get for next year,” he jokes.

The director does let it slip that he intends to have at least one more big open air event in 2018.

The trombone-playing Gudgin appears to be a perfect fit for Brass, but does he have any anxieties about the future of the music he loves?

“There was a bit of crisis for brass bands when their traditional model broke down as pits and heavy industry closed. Many bands survived and have come out stronger because the enterprising ones are looking at how they can connect with different audiences. That’s why I’m putting a big Durham Cathedral concert together on July 15 because it’s bringing together the Reg Vardy band and North-East choral societies for a new version of William Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast. You’re linking two incredible traditions of singing and brass bands which are really strong in the region, but they do need more opportunity to work together on a grand scale.

“I rather hope that this concert is something we can repeat over a number of years. Over five or six years we can create several new pieces or music or transcriptions of pieces combining brass and song,” says Gudgin.

His other aim is continuing to find brass instrumentalists who don’t normally work together. “Putting together the Riverside Brass Band with a Northern Soul band (Gala Theatre, July 14) is worthwhile because Northern Soul is just so popular. If we can get a brass band performing to this kind of audience it just helps our appeal. What is fundamental is that all these people are phenomenal musicians and as good as you can get in any symphony orchestra or band. Hopefully, the festival will give them the chance to showcase their incredible talent,” he says.

Gudgin is keen on using the Big Brass Bus as a festival enhancement. “It seems to be strange for a brass festival to say, but this is making a little bit more noise wherever we go. When we turn up somewhere like Spennymoor or Seaham, then we are a bit more visible over a few random brass players turning up in the town, because the bus is visible. We are also trying to inspire a new generation of brass players. That is something that has slightly gone missing from the event (which attracts audiences of around 40,000). The Brass Bus has plastic versions of trumpets and trombones on board and the idea is that we get children in and round the bus and give them their first chance of playing these instruments and, because they’re plastic, they are practically indestructible. The bus and the plastic instruments make the whole thing more attractive to youngsters. What’s not to like about making a lot of noise in this way,” he says.

He rates Durham as a fabulous city and is attractive socially and historically. “The scale of the place is the kind of size where festivals really work. It’s much harder to make a festival happen in really big cities, so smaller places like Edinburgh and Durham are where they happen best. Brass is also in my DNA because I studied music and the trombone and I quite like the challenge of taking a subject that some people might consider narrow, like brass, and seeing how much breadth we can give it.”

On the subject of his own participation as a player, Gudgin responds: “Not really. I wouldn’t inflict that on people. Maybe, when the bus is out I can dive in and teach youngsters how to play a trumpet or trombone. I’ll keep it to that. We’ve got some great musicians coming to the festival. I don’t want to let them down.

“If I was good enough I’d play with the BBC Big Band. It is as good as a band can get. To sit quietly with them and join in would be a great privilege,” Gudgin adds.

One event already selling well (Gala Theatre, July 9) is West End performers Matt Corner, from Darlington, and Seaton Carew’s Kate Graham singing with the Scottish Swing Orchestra and the Brass Broadway Chorus in a tribute to musicals. “I like the fact that we’ve managed to put together a backing chorus from all the local musical theatre companies in and around Durham. We are also bringing down some singers from Scotland, because we’re repeating this concert at the Edinburgh Fringe. The idea is that the Durham singers can go up to the fringe is they want to. I’ve always been interested in getting local people into taking part in festivals in a really professional way.