The 22nd April 2023 sees the first anniversary of the passing of our great friend, Richard Evans.
Richard’s contribution to brass banding in both the British Isles and further field was immense and his legacy lives on in a number of musical organisations.
In the summer of 2022, renowned brass band composer and arranger Alan Fernie wrote a new march in memory of Mr Evans, which was jointly premiered by Rushen Silver Band (Isle of Mann) and the National Youth Brass Band of Scotland (NYBBS). The march is in 6/8 and is reminiscent of many of the marches Richard conducted to great acclaim, and needs to be performed with a swagger!
Leyland Band were delighted to record the march for Alan to support the fund raising for the NYBBS:-
Rushen Silver Band (RSB) is now able to make this march available, on Alan’s behalf, to bands throughout the world with all profits raised from its sale being donated to NYBBS, to support their excellent work developing emerging talent within the brass band world.
The march, priced at £15 (pdf version) is available via the Rushen Silver Band online shop, which can be accessed via this link
https://rushensilverband.sumupstore.com
RSB Musical Director, John Kinley, who played under Mr Evans at Leyland Band when they won the British Open in 1994 said “I had the privilege of knowing Richard as conductor, mentor and friend for over 30 years going back to my days in the BNFL/ Leyland band and through my time studying with him on the
Band Studies course at Accrington and Rossendale College.
It has been an honour for Rushen Silver Band to work with Alan and our friends at NYBBS and the Leyland Band to publish this fantastic new march. The music is very much in the style Mr Evans would have revelled in and is a fantastic tribute by Alan to a real musical legend in the brass band world. We are delighted that bands everywhere can use it to carry on Richard’s mission of inspiring musicians of all ages to perform to the highest standards and cultivate a general love of music making”.
We hope many bands will take advantage of being able to obtain this excellent tribute to the wonderful Mr Evans, especially as the money is going to such a good cause.
We look forward to hearing bands around the world carrying on Richard’s legacy by performing Alan’s march.
