Soprano Cornet – Martin Irwin

Martin hails from Barnsley, started playing the cornet at the age of eight and played his first concert with Barrow Colliery Band on his 10th birthday. After 6 years he joined Warren Band in his first principal cornet position. Following this, Martin played principal cornet with both Stocksbridge and Carlton Main Frickley Colliery bands. In his early playing career, Martin had many successes on the solo contest circuit, most notably being the North of England Solo Champion.

A major step in his playing career came in late 1992, when he joined Brighouse and Rastrick Band as assistant principal cornet. After 3 years, Martin moved on to the soprano cornet seat, and in the late 90’s he enjoyed numerous victories with B&R at the Yorkshire Championships, All-England Masters, National Championships and European championships, also gaining himself the Best Soloist award at the British Open in the triple-champions year of 1998.

Following a break from playing in 2001 due to work commitments, Martin returned to banding with the Hepworth band in 2005, enjoying victories at the Scottish Open and the Grand Shield. He then returned to B&R in 2006 and had further triumphs at the Brass in Concert and National Championships. Following a successful 2 year spell with Marsden band, Martin then joined the Black Dyke band in 2012.

With Black Dyke, Martin enjoyed victories at the Yorkshire Championships, English Championships, National Championships, British Open and the European Championships. In 2017 Martin moved from assistant principal cornet to the soprano cornet seat. Particular highlights were playing on the Pyramid stage at the Glastonbury Festival, playing principal cornet on a number of concerts, and a tour of Japan.

In 2019 Martin moved to the Fairey Band as soprano cornet, but in 2020 accepted the invitation to re-join B&R on the soprano cornet seat, and is relishing the opportunity in helping the band achieve further success on the contest and concert stages.

For over ten years in his earlier playing career Martin was also a member of the Young Ambassadors Brass Band of Great Britain, a touring band made up of players from GB’s leading bands. During this time he played on 3 tours of USA / Canada plus 15 European tours, primarily as principal or soprano cornet.

For his day job, Martin works in IT Consultancy primarily in the finance / banking sectors, specialising as a Programme Test Manager on large transformation & integration programmes.