A TROMBONIST from Watford battled for Britain last Thursday at the International Trombone Festival in Birmingham where his quartet The Spitfires were awarded first place in the quartet competition.
Matthew Eckland, 22, a former pupil of Watford Grammar School for Boys and Watford School of Music, teamed up in 2004 with two fellow members of the Guildhall School of Music and one trombonist from the Royal Academy of Music to form the Spitfires.
On Thursday, at the first day of the festival which was taking place in the UK for only the second time in its 35-year history, the Spitfires competed against quartets from the Rotterdam Conservatory and the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest.
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After presenting the Spitfires with their £1,000 prize, judge Gary Carpenter said that the British quartet had "given a real performance full of risk taking.
They won because they had a feel for the architecture - a sense of the over-arching form".
Matthew, who recently completed his fourth and final year at the Guildhall School of Music, said that winning first prize was one of the highlights of his career as a trombonist.
He said: "It was absolutely fantastic to win. And it was a surprise because the competition was of such high quality. We were all very happy after six months hard work."
Matthew has been playing the trombone since the age of seven.
In 1994 he was awarded a place in the National Children's Wind and Chamber Orchestras.
He later became principal trombonist in the Hertfordshire County Youth Orchestra.
In 2002, Matthew took up the offer of a place at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where next year he will be president of the student union.
For more information on the Spitfire Quartet, visit www.spitfiretrombones.co.uk
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