Brass Band EM: Practice rooms for the elite of brass players
Competition & practice at the same time – in the same place
Concert series on the banks of the Danube in a house with a great history
The location? Right on the banks of the Danube. The architecture? Timelessly elegant. The acoustics of the two large halls? Simply excellent. And then there's the history, which began in 1974 with the opening by the Vienna Philharmonic under Herbert von Karajan and has since regularly brought the stars of the international classical music scene to Linz (AUT).
Nevertheless, the famous Brucknerhaus faced a problem on the occasion of the Brass Band European Championships in April 2026:
“Parallel performance” on two floors as an acoustic challenge
What do you do when several hundred musicians from all over Europe come, wander through the building for days, and want to try out new instruments from the many exhibitors or play a few bars before their big performance? What do you do to avoid any acoustic disturbance during the competition?
Even the Brucknerhaus isn't designed for this kind of "parallel performance." But instead of imposing a general ban on brass instruments in the foyer while one band after another performs for the European Championship title one floor above, the management opted for this approach:
"We'll ask STUDIOBOX."
Queuing in front of mobile recording studios
We didn't need to be asked twice, sent a team to Linz and brought our two top models: the PREMIUM booth; and the biological alternative ROSI – both equipped with the best interior acoustics that STUDIOBOX has to offer.
Even greater than the astonishment when two high-quality soundproof booths suddenly appeared in the entrance area of the concert hall was the enthusiasm of the musicians from 14 nations for the improved acoustics and sound insulation. For three days, they sometimes even queued for their turn to test one instrument after another, one mouthpiece after another – or (also in groups) to play through particularly difficult passages again before going on stage.
A young musician couple from Lithuania (see photo) expressed their delight thus: “Incredible. This spatial sound from brass instruments. In a mobile booth. We've never seen anything like it. Couldn't we take your ROSI with us right away?”
By the way: The celebrated Flowers Band from England returned home as the newly crowned champions of the 47th European Brass Band Championships. The representative of the host country – the Brass Band of Upper Austria – finished in 12th place.
Weblinks:
https://ebba.eu.com/results-47th-european-brass-band-championships-2026/
