Regent Brass and Regent Community bands joined forces at this landmark event to perform the world premiere of ‘Ink Garden’ by acclaimed composer Raymond Yiu. 

The work was commissioned to mark the first anniversary of the formation of Regent Community Brass and was made possible thanks to funding from the BBC Performing Arts Fund and PRS for Music Foundation. 

Heart of the community

The concert also marked the first musical performance at the new Brent Civic Centre in the heart of the community, and also featured the talented youngsters of Brent Music Service under their inspirational leader Paul Fensom, who is also the founder of Regent Brass.
 
Performing to a receptive audience which included the local MP, the first half featured two of Brent Music Service’s top ensembles: the award-winning Brent Concert Band and the Brent Junior Singers. 

Wide range of music

Both groups wowed the audience with a wide range of music, from Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ to the protest hit song ‘Shout’, made famous by ‘80s new wave band Tears for Fears. 

The standard of performance was exceptionally high, which was not surprising given that the Brent Youth Concert Band recently won a Platinum Award at the National Concert Band Festival and Brent Junior Singers have been selected to perform at the forthcoming National Music for Youth Festival. 

Fine advertisement

The high level of young talent in these ensembles was a fine advertisement for the opportunities the Brent Music Service provides to young people across the borough.
 
The second half opened with the 53 musicians of Regent Brass and Regent Community Brass performing several pieces before the much anticipated premiere. 

Classics

Regent Community Brass delivered the Lennon/McCartney classic ‘Got To Get You Into My Life’ before euphonium players Liam Grunsell and Niall Carroll performed, ‘Lullaby’, written by Philip Doe. Regent Brass providing a whizz through the Jelly Roll Morton classic ‘Black Bottom Stomp’ before flugel player Victoria Curran performed a beautiful version of Crystal Gayle’s hit, ‘Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue’.
 
Ink Garden

With both bands on stage, conductor Alan Duguid introduced Raymond Yiu to say a few words about his composition. 

Written as a tribute to the late Richard Rodney Bennett (1936-2012), ‘Ink Garden’ takes its title from an eponymous collection of Chinese calligraphy and graphics and draws inspiration from one of Bennett’s unpublished jazz songs, ‘Goodbye for Now’.

Raymond also explained how Brent’s diverse community influenced his writing, with the piece made up of eight movements, each written in a different musical idiom. 

Link

It also highlighted the link between the two Regent bands, with the movements tackled individually before the music of movement 8 jumped between the two ensembles. 

This was very challenging to put together as both bands were only able to perform on stage for the performance itself, but despite this, the music was well received by both players and audience alike.
 
To close, Paul Fensom took the reins of the massed forces of Brent Concert, Regent Brass and Regent Community Brass to perform the lively march ‘Barnard Castle’ to cap off an evening celebrating the diverse range of musical talents that Brent has to offer.