Single performance by the Band of the Coldstream Guards

Press, 2 March 1984, Page 12

Single performance by the Band of the Coldstream Guards

The Band of the Coldstream Guards is probably one of the world’s oldest military bands. The band was officially incorporated into the famed regiment on May 16, 1785, but for some time previously it had been hired each month for the Ceremony of Guard Changing. The band was then only 12 strong and was directed by Music Major Christopher Eley, composer of The Duke of York, now used by the Grenadier Guards as a regimental slow troop. Until 1825, the band was led by German conductors but, in that year, Charles

Godfrey was appointed its first English conductor. The reputation of the band grew and it began giving popular public concerts at Covent Garden. In 1903, it made its first overseas tour to Canada, the forerunner of many international tours. Being a part of the armed forces has entailed a degree of risk and tragedy over the years: in 1916, it toured the battlefields of France for three months, and in 1944, while playing for the divine service at Wellington Barracks, the band was struck by a German flying bomb, killing more than 120 people, including five musi-. cians and its director of music. Today, the band is used for state, court and ceremonial duties, as well as touring throughout England.

It is led by Lieutenant Colonel Richard Ridings, who joined the band in 1974 as its director of music and became its senior director of music in 1977. The men who wear the bearskin of Her Majesty’s Coldstream Guards are among the most accomplished military musicians in the world. They are constantly in demand for concerts and recordings, and have toured worldwide. Everywhere, their outdoor concerts are a spectacular pageant of music and colour. The Band of the Coldstream Guards will give one Christchurch Festival performance, at Queen Elizabeth II Stadium, on March 10, at 3 p.m. The New Zealand Army Band will open the show and then join in a mass finale.