A SPECIAL Yorkshire Prom with the world-famous Black Dyke Band will the highlight of a weekend of concerts showcasing the county’s brass bands for the Yorkshire Festival 2014, the first ever arts festival to precede the Tour de France in its 111-year history.

The Prom, at York Barbican on June 22, will be the grand finale of the Tour de Brass, a series of nine regional concerts in locations that are on, or close to, the two routes that Le Grand Départ will take when it passes through Yorkshire on July 5 and 6.

Presented by Brassed On York as part of the official Yorkshire Festival programme, the Tour de Brass bands will range from the top Championship Section to village bands, including three Yorkshire bands that have qualified for the final of this year’s National Brass Band Championships: Elland Silver Band, Ripon City Band and the mighty Black Dyke Band conducted by Dr Nicholas Childs.

The regional concerts on June 21 and 22 will be daytime, open-air free events in the bands’ own locales and also include performances by Hebden Bridge Band, Hade Edge Band, Knaresborough Silver Band, Otley Band, Leyburn Band and Muker Silver Band in Richmondshire. In addition, Brassed On York will be supporting a ticketed evening concert to mark the 20th anniversary of Elland Silver Youth Band in Brighouse on June 21.

The Black Dyke Yorkshire Prom will be compèred by David Hoyle, presenter of the BBC Radio Leeds/BBC Radio York Sunday afternoon show Yorkshire Brass, and will have a Proms-style second half featuring music with a Yorkshire connection. Barnsley bard Ian McMillan will read his poem Brass about a colliery band, set to music by Black Dyke, and the Yorkshire Youth Brass Band will take part too in the 7.30pm concert.

Tickets cost £13.50 , under 16s £5, and a VIP package is available at £33.50 for a private reception at 6.30pm, including champagne, nibbles and a chance to meet the band, Nicholas Childs, David Hoyle and Ian McMillan. Phone 0844 854 2757, book online at yorkbarbican.co.uk or buy in person at York Barbican, Monday to Friday. 10am to 2pm.

Details of venues, bands and times for the Tour de Brass concerts will be on the Brassed On York website, brassedon.org, and the Yorkshire Festival website, yorkshirefestival.co.uk

Brassed On York also will be presenting a fringe programme of free brass band concerts in York over the weekend in partnership with the York Festival of Food and Drink. Ten bands, including championship section bands Shepherd Group Brass Band and national finalists York Railway Institute Band and Wetherby Silver Band, will perform throughout the day on June 21in the Food Festival Entertainment Marquee in Parliament Street and at the Coppergate Shopping Centre, while the New York Brass Band will play the Food Festival Entertainment Marquee on June 22 from 2pm to 4pm.

Kate Lock, director of Brassed On York, says: "The fact that the two stages of the Grand Départ go through the heartland of 'brass band country' was what inspired us to expand our Brassed On York festival beyond York and into the more ambitious Tour de Brass for 2014.

"We're thrilled to be able to showcase the variety, versatility and talent that marks out our brass bands as being among the best in the business as part of the Yorkshire Festival and we can’t wait to host the very first Yorkshire Prom with the Black Dyke Band.

"Black Dyke, based at Queensbury, is one of the oldest and most famous bands not just in Britain but in the world. Some of the other bands we're presenting also have roots going back 100 or even 150 years, and all of them have this incredible legacy and link with Yorkshire communities and industries."

Brass bands are the real deal in terms of home-grown culture and have some phenomenally talented musicians, says Kate. "‘As well as the traditional sound that people love, they also play modern arrangements of everything from pop to musicals and lots of them are attracting young people. It’s that combination that keeps brass music fresh, fun, exciting and entertaining to audiences of all ages."

Yorkshire Festival 2014 runs from March 27 to July 6 2014. Nearly 50 events have been selected to be officially part of the Festival which will also include hundreds of fringe events.