Ayton trumpet player Richard is special guest
Known as one of the UK’s finest amateur orchestras, the Scarborough Symphony Orchestra musicians are preparing for a concert on Saturday November 26. Guest soloists often come from all over the world to perform with the Scarborough musicians and for this concert the trumpet soloist will be travelling from his home in East Ayton.
Scarborough-born Richard Wood’s musical achievements are more than a match for those of any of his international colleagues.
He was principal cornet of the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain aged 12 and junior cornet (trumpet) champion of Great Britain at 13 while a pupil at Pindar School.
At 14, he earned the Champion Child for Music, receiving his award from the then Princess of Wales at the Savoy in London and the achievement was followed by winning the prestigious Alexander Owen Memorial Scholarship at age 15.
At the Royal Northern College of Music he won further scholarships and competitions and was invited to perform with some of the most prestigious brass bands in the country, including Black Dyke Mills, Leyland and Fodens.
Outside of brass bands, he established an international career, touring Japan in 1995 performing Richard Rodney Bennett’s newly written Trumpet Concerto.
As a freelance trumpet player, Richard has performed with a number of ensembles including the BBC Philharmonic, Manchester Camerata, Bergen Philharmonic, Welsh National Opera and the Pasadena Roof Orchestra and took part in a Best of Broadway European tour as well as performing at the World Jazz Festival in Moscow with the Wigan Jazz Orchestra.
He was also lured back to Scarborough annually to play with the Scarborough Spa Orchestra for 10 seasons.
Richard said: “It was during my summers with the Scarborough Spa Orchestra that I remembered what a great place to live Scarborough was.
"Now married with young twins, living the life of an international freelance player was becoming a major challenge to family life. It just got harder to leave Scarborough every year.
"We decided to make Scarborough our home and have never regretted it since.”
As a talented artist, his other interest in photography led to him becoming a sought-after wedding photographer and he continues to manage both aspects of his professional life – music and photography – from his Scarborough home.
Richard will be performing Alexander Arutiunian’s popular trumpet concerto in a concert that also lets the musicians of the Scarborough Symphony Orchestra loose on some of the most popular works in the classical repertoire, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Capriccio Espagnol and Tchaikovsky’s Pathetique Symphony No 6.
The concert, under the baton of musical director Shaun Matthew, takes place on Saturday November 26 at Queen Street Methodist Hall.
The performance begins at 7.15pm. Tickets are available through the orchestra’s website: www.scarborough-orchestra. org or from Revolutions Music, Huntriss Row, Scarborough.