News

University of Durham appoints Conductor in Residence for new Centre for Brass Band Studies

(28 April 2003)

The University of Durham has appointed Mr Ray Farr as its first Conductor in Residence and Teaching Fellow at the newly established Centre for Brass Band Studies. He takes up the new full-time appointment this month.

Mr Farr is an internationally known conductor, arranger, lecturer and adjudicator who studied at the Birmingham Conservatoire and the Royal College of Music. His diverse roles have included co-principal trumpet for the BBC Radio Orchestra, conductor of top bands such as the Grimethorpe and the Ever Ready, the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, frequent world tours, regular radio and TV broadcasts/recordings, and guest teaching at many universities and conservatoires internationally.

The new appointment allows the Department of Music to develop a further innovative dimension to its teaching, research and outreach work, now in the field of brass band music and its history and culture in the North East. The Centre will complement and enhance the Department’s existing strengths in performance, composition, historical musicology and ethnomusicology. Durham has a longstanding interest in contemporary music of all kinds, attracting many famous composers and performers, and the new Centre for Brass Band Studies will form part of the Centre for Contemporary Music established recently under the direction of international concert violinist and specialist in new music, Dr Mieko Kanno. An inaugural event for the Centre for Brass Band Studies will take place in the Gala Theatre, Durham City, on 15 June this year, with a newly commissioned work for brass band by the composer Martyn Harry, currently Northern Arts Composer Fellow at Durham University.

Head of Music, Professor Max Paddison said: ”We are delighted that such a distinguished conductor has accepted this new post. Brass Band studies will form an important element of our successful Music Department, and will extend our existing work to offer a programme of teaching and research in brass band music and its culture to complement our other interests in contemporary music. Our positive relationships with the brass band community and partner institutions will also be enhanced through creative collaborations in festivals, workshops, short courses and outreach work through the annual Durham City of Brass Festival and the University Brass Band”.

The initiative has developed from discussions with members of the brass band community, and is an attempt to respond to identified needs in the North East region and nationally. It is hoped that the new Centre will enable musicians who wish to take their practical studies further to remain in the region whilst pursuing their studies. In this way, brass musicians, especially young people, will not be lost to the North East, and will continue to play in local brass bands whilst pursuing their degree.

New pathways in brass band studies have now been developed which will allow students with an interest in brass band music to pursue their studies either as part of their undergraduate degree course, or as a detailed focus on particular aspects at taught masters level. The revised BA (Hons) Music degree programme will offer the opportunity for undergraduates to specialise in Brass Band Studies within the context of a broader degree programme. In addition, there will now be an MA in Brass Band Studies as part of the MA in Performance Studies, which can be studied full-time or part-time.

In a recent interview in the British Bandsman (29/03/03) Ray Farr said: “My aim will be to produce well-educated, skilled band conductors and leaders who are passionate about what they do. In practical terms, this position is challenging, but not so different from the things I have been doing over the past 20 years or so. I hope that we can not only feature concerts, but workshops and seminars for all interested in brass.”

For course information contact:-

Karen Scott at The Music School, University of Durham Tel: 0191-334-3140

For further information about this release contact:-

Public Relations Office, University of Durham Tel: 0191-334-6074 Professor Max Paddison, Head of Music, University of Durham Tel: 0191-334-3151

• For more information about Ray Farr visit his web site http://home.online.no/~rayfarr/
• The Department of Music at Durham is one of the leading centres for the study of music in Britain. There are currently about 140 undergraduate students studying Music and 35 postgraduates.
• Degrees in Music were first granted at the University in 1891, but the modern Department of Music dates from just after the Second World. The Department offers a rigorous traditional musical training combined with radical and innovatory modules aiming to develop critical thinking about music in today's world.
• The Music Department of the University of Durham is extremely active in providing a modern centre for musical study to its undergraduate, postgraduate and scholarship students, with particular expertise in composition, performance, historical musicology, ethnomusicology, critical theory and music technology. The recently established Centre for Contemporary Music, of which the Centre for Brass Band Studies will form part, involves a wide range of today’s music, ranging from the avant-garde to popular musics.
• Durham enjoys a vigorous and varied concert life, embracing all types of music from medieval to contemporary, including orchestral, choral and chamber music, jazz, electro-acoustic and ethnic musics, and, beginning this academic year, brass band music. The Department promotes a regular series of lunchtime recitals and the professional University Concert Series (MUSICON). These are complemented by active student societies such as the Music Society, the Orchestral Society, the Choral Society, the Durham University Brass Band, the Light Opera Group, the Chamber Choir, and staff-led choirs and ensembles including Durham Consort of Voices, Durham Polyphony and the New Music Ensemble. The Allegri Quartet also visits the Department on two occasions every year as part of an annual residency sponsored by the Radcliffe Trust to give concerts, workshops and master classes, and the Department has links with the Sage Music Centre Gateshead and the Northern Sinfonia.