About Us

Based in Willesden, North West London, Regent Brass was founded in January 1985 by a group of young brass musicians in the London Borough of Brent. In March the same year, it entered the Fourth Section Area Heats of the National Brass Band Championships and was placed second. This qualified the band to represent the London and Southern Counties Area at the National Finals at the Royal Albert Hall in October 1985.

In 1988 Regent won the Third Section Title of Champion Brass Band of Great Britain and only six years later won the London and Southern Counties Area at Championship level. In total, Regent has now appeared at the National Finals on seven occasions. The band currently competes in the First Section.

Regent Brass has taken part in concerts and contests throughout the UK and has also toured to Holland, Belgium and the United States. It has appeared on both live and recorded programmes for all the major UK television channels.

Regent still has three of its original members and now has musicians from all corners of the UK. It also attracts players from further a field, with musicians hailing from Australia, New Zealand and the USA.

The band's honorary patrons include the writer, actor and comedian Victoria Wood OBE; composers Joseph Horovitz and John McCabe CBE; trumpet soloist Crispian Steele-Perkins; and Mrs Ralph Vaughan Williams, widow of the great English composer.

In May 2006, Regent will release Score!, a CD to mark the band's 20th anniversary.

Regent Brass will host a visit by a Swiss brass band, MG Daerstetten, in October 2006 and is scheduled to make the return trip to the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland in April 2007.

Regent Brass receives no funding from outside sources and relies entirely on subscriptions from band members, donations and paid engagements when available. Like any organisation, it has significant costs including conductors' expenses and the cost of rehearsal facilities. The members of the band do not receive money for playing nor any form of expenses.