Regent Brass was formed by an ambitious group of musicians under the direction of Paul Fensom in 1985. Our Musical Director is Alan Duguid, who has a strong record in brass bands in London and Southern Counties, having led the band to success in the Championship Section regional final in 2013, as well as notable results with local brass bands Aveley and Newham and Redbridge Brass.
A dynamic group that dares to be different, Regent Brass is very proud of its diverse composition with members hailing from England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Italy, Switzerland, Iceland, the USA, New Zealand, Australia and Japan. The band’s honorary patrons include much loved and remembered writer, actor and comedian Victoria Wood OBE, composers Joseph Horovitz and John McCabe CBE and trumpet soloist Crispian Steele-Perkins.
The band performs regularly in competitions and has enjoyed a great deal of success since its formation, rising dramatically from the Fourth Section to the Championship Section in only six years and winning the London and Southern Counties Area Contest on five separate occasions, most recently taking the Championship Section title in March 2013. It has qualified for the National Finals of Great Britain on nine occasions and won the title of National Third Section Champions in 1988. Due to this success, the band is ranked regularly among the top 100 bands across the globe by websites www.4barsrest.com and www.brassstats.com. A complete history of the band’s contest results can be found on Brass Band Results website.
In addition to performing across the UK, the band has also toured to Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Poland and the United States. It has appeared on both live and recorded television and radio broadcasts for the major UK networks and even provided the brass band for the critically acclaimed film “Nowhere Boy” about the early life of John Lennon.
The band has also released five commercial recordings; “Intrada” (1987), “Accolade” (1990), “Regent Brass – 10th Anniversary” (1995), “Score!” (2005) and “On a Mission” (2013).
In May 2012, the band expanded its organization with the formation of Regent Community Brass, to provide opportunities for musicians and young people across London to get involved in playing in a brass band while providing a more gentle introduction to contesting. The band has grown and developed as an ensemble in its own right and regularly performs at local events and contests alongside Regent Brass. To mark the formation of this new ensemble, the band commissioned a new work from the pen of composer Raymond Yiu with support from the BBC Performing Arts Fund and Performing Rights Society. Regent Community Brass continues to be based in the London Borough of Brent.
Despite having substantial ongoing costs such as conductors’ expenses and rehearsal venue hire, The Regent Bands receive no funding from outside sources and rely entirely on subscriptions from band members, donations and paid engagements when available. The members of the band do not receive money for playing nor any form of expenses.