[ the story so far(r)... ]

Ray Farr

Conductor

Ray Farr (born 1948) was brought up in a musical family in the small town of Hereford, England. He started playing the cornet at the age of 6, and studied at the Birmingham School of Music (with John Lamb) and at the Royal Academy of Music (with William Overton), where he played 1st trumpet in the academy's orchestra. During this period he was frequently featured as a soloist with different brass bands, wind bands and orchestras.

In 1969 Ray was appointed co-principal trumpet with the, now defunct, BBC Midland Light Orchestra in Birmingham and was often used as extra player in the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He was also appointed as Trumpet Professor at his former Conservatory the Birmingham School of Music. As a teacher Ray has given lectures on conducting, arranging and brass band contest adjudicating at Leeds College of Music, Huddersfield College, Salford College, Newcastle College, Cardiff College, Durham University and the Music Conservatories of Stavanger, Bergen, Trondheim, Malmø, Gothenburg and Stockholm.

Ray left Birmingham in 1973 to join the BBC Radio Orchestra in London as co-principal trumpet. In the years that followed he also worked with other top London orchestras for concerts, film sessions, TV and records. This was also the time he started conducting.
In 1979 he accepted a full time position as Resident Conductor with Grimethorpe Colliery Band, the band featured in the movie "Brassed Off". During the five years he was with Grimethorpe the band won many contests and gave hundreds of concert in Britain, France, Austria, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Holland, Finland and Belgium. During this time there were many special occasions, notably Leeds Music Festival, Harrogate Contemporary Music Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, Cheltenham Festival, Litchfield Festival and the concert tour of Australia, which climaxed in a performance of "Pictures from an Exhibition" in the Sydney Opera House.

During this time Ray was also encouraged by Elgar Howarth, to start writing music. One of his first arrangements was "Star Wars", by John Williams, which soon led to a string of successful and popular arrangements. Early on, BBC`s Frank Renton called him: "Ray of the magic pen", and now, after hundreds of successes, bands and orchestras regularly play his pieces which range in style from Stravinsky's "Firebird" to Zappa's "Dog Breath Variations".

In 1984 Ray took up a freelancing career, having developed a reputation as a stylish conductor and a planner of interesting concert programmes ranging from light music to "avant-garde". During this time he appeared as a guest conductor all over Europe, working with the National Youth Bands of England and Switzerland and several European Gala concerts.

In 1988 Ray won a special Arts Council Award to study contemporary music with Edward Gregson and Jorma Panula, Professor of Orchestral Conducting at Helsinki's Sibelius Academy. In 1990 he moved to Stavanger, Norway to accept a conducting position with the city music school's Youth Orchestra where he was able to combine regular conducting positions with guest conducting invitations. During this time he worked with the National Youth Bands of Norway and Eikanger Bjørsvik Musikklag (http://www.ebml.no/), who flew him to Bergen twice a week for rehearsals and concerts. He became involved with wind bands and was appointed Chief Conductor with the Trondheim Military Band and conductor of the National Youth Wind band of Norway.

The Sandnes Symphony Orchestra (Norway) appointed Ray as Chief Conductor in 1992. Ray took the opportunity to develop in the fields of opera, ballet and oratorio which opened the doors to the bigger orchestral world and guest conducting with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra (Norway).

In 1995 his affection for Eikanger Bjørsvik Musikklag caused him to move to Bergen, where he accepted a position as their Musical Director. With them he has given many innovative performances of a wide variety of music on stage, TV, radio, and CD – most notably the "Best by Farr" series. During this time he maintained his freelance conducting career and travelled the world visiting the National Youth Brass Band of New Zealand and working in Japan, Australia and America.

In 2003 Ray moved to Durham, England to accept a position as Conductor in Residence at Durham University (http://www.durham.ac.uk/). The University's Music Department has successfully established a unique Centre for Brass Band Studies, to which students from all over the world come to study conducting and arranging at MA and PhD level. Ray is promoting an annual concert series with the University Brass Band in Residence.

In 2004, Ray was invited by The Sage Gateshead (http://www.thesagegateshead.org/) to direct a concert series featuring brass music. The series is now an annual event with three concerts each year featuring local and international artists.

Ray has been on Raymond Gubbay`s conductors roster since 2006, and is working closely with the concert promoters on large scale productions (http://www.raymondgubbay.co.uk) particularly at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester

Ray has worked closely with Northern Sinfonia and the British Arts Council to realise the first ever Durham International Brass Soloist Competition (DIBSC®) which commenced in June 2007.

In 2009 Ray was appointed Musical Director/Principal Conductor of the Sunderland Symphony Orchestra. A position he combines with conducting and teaching duties at Durham University

Alongside his research for a PhD in music, Ray has recently written a book on conducting. (http://www.jagrins.com/).
And is very much in demand as a guest conductor throughout the world.

Ray Farr is proud to have worked with…

As a conductor:

• Moira Anderson (vocal), Eva Knardal (piano), Haakan Hardenberger (trumpet), Ole Edvard Antonsen (trumpet), Sissel Kyrkjebø (vocal), Henning Kraggerud (violin), Sveinung Bjelland (piano), Don Lusher (trombone), Ian Bousfield (trombone), Maurice Murphy (trumpet), Rod Franks (trumpet)

• BBC Northern Radio Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Sandnes Symphony Orchestra (Norway), Stavanger Symphony Orchestra (Norway), Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra (Norway)

As a trumpet player:

• BBC Midland Light Orchestra, Orchestra de Camera, BBC Welsh Symphony,
BBC Scottish Symphony, BBC Northern Orchestra, Opera North, BBC Radio Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra.

Simon Rattle, Antal Doráti, Sir John Barbirolli, Maurice Handford, Villem Tausky, Elgar Howarth, Bramwell Tovey

• Stanley Black, Bob Farnon, Neil Richardson, Ron Goodwin, Carl Davis

Ray Farr's music is published by:

- Warner Chappell
- EMI, Norway
- Rosehill, UK
- Wright & Round, UK
- Faber
- Studio Music, UK
- Hallamshire, UK
- Obrasso, Switzerland
- Nordic Sounds, Norway
- Kirklees, UK
- Chesters, UK
- Musikverlag Frank, Switzerland
- Doyen, UK