This Is London
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
ST GEORGE’S DAY CONCERT<br />
The Band of The Coldstream Guards<br />
will take their unique brand of music to<br />
Cadogan Hall and perform a special<br />
concert in aid of Combat Stress. The<br />
theme of the concert is St George’s Day,<br />
and will be held on Saturday 22nd April.<br />
The performance will be hosted by the<br />
popular comedian, presenter and singer<br />
Alexander Armstrong, and will feature one<br />
of the country’s top musicians, Mark<br />
Templeton, ever popular principal<br />
trombone of the <strong>London</strong> Philharmonic<br />
Orchestra. The Commonwealth Children’s<br />
Choir will perform on the evening too. The<br />
concert will celebrate many English<br />
composers and arrangers, like Malcolm<br />
Arnold and William Walton.<br />
The Coldstream Regiment was formed<br />
in 1650 by George Monck, a General in<br />
Oliver Cromwell's ‘New Model Army’ and<br />
can therefore claim to be one of the oldest<br />
regiments in the world. In 1661, shortly<br />
after the restoration of the monarchy, they<br />
were re-commissioned by King Charles II<br />
as Household Troops and from the town<br />
of Coldstream which lies just inside<br />
Scotland near Berwick-Upon-Tweed where<br />
it was first formed.<br />
From the earliest days the Regiment<br />
had drummers and a ‘Band of Music’ from<br />
1742. <strong>This</strong> was in fact eight civilian<br />
musicians who were hired by the month<br />
by Officers of the Regiment to provide<br />
music for the Changing of the Guard at<br />
St.James' Palace. When, in 1785, the<br />
musicians were asked to perform at an<br />
aquatic excursion to Greenwich, they<br />
declined on the grounds that the<br />
performance was ‘incompatible with their<br />
several respectable and private<br />
engagements.’ <strong>This</strong> was too much for the<br />
officers who asked the Duke of York,<br />
Colonel of the Regiment, for a regular<br />
attested band.<br />
The last ten years have seen the Band<br />
involved with what is probably the most<br />
intense period of international travel in its<br />
entire history, with many private and<br />
commercial tours ‘Flying the Flag’ around<br />
the world.<br />
For tickets, telephone 020 7730 4500.<br />
Laurence Cummings, Musical Director of the <strong>London</strong> Handel Festival will conduct<br />
Joseph & His Brethren at St George’s Hanover Square on Monday 24 April.<br />
11<br />
t h i s i s l o n d o n m a g a z i n e • t h i s i s l o n d o n o n l i n e
Change language