RAY FARR
Ray Farr was educated at the Birmingham School of Music and at the Royal Academy of Music, London. After ten years as a professional musician with the BBC Radio Orchestra he decided to devote himself to conducting.
In 1979 he accepted a full time position as Resident Conductor with Grimethorpe Colliery Band, the band featured in the movie "Brassed Off". During the five years he was with Grimethorpe, the band won many contests and gave hundreds of concert in Britain, France, Austria, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Holland, Finland and Belgium. During this time there were many special occasions, notably Leeds Music Festival, Harrogate Contemporary Music Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, Cheltenham Festival, Litchfield Festival and a concert tour of Australia, which climaxed in a performance of "Pictures from an Exhibition" in the Sydney Opera House.
In 1984 he left Grimethorpe to freelance, having developed a reputation as a stylish conductor and a planner of interesting concert programmes ranging from light music to "avant-garde". The Brass Band World writes: "Ray’s conducting was a joy to behold" and the East Anglian Times says: "superbly controlled with impeccable timing", while the British Bandsman writes: "Ray Farr has mastered the programme art". The critic of Bergen’s Tidende wrote: "He is an elegant conductor with excellent control and has mastered the art of shaping musical lines. His dynamic range is enormous.”
During this time he appeared as a guest conductor all over Europe most notably with the National Youth Bands of England and Switzerland and several European Gala concerts.
As a teacher Ray has given lectures on conducting, arranging and adjudicating at Leeds College of Music, Huddersfield College, Salford College, Newcastle College, Cardiff College and the Music Conservatories of Stavanger, Bergen, Trondheim, Malmø, Gothenburg and Stockholm.
In 1988 Ray won a special Arts Council Award to study contemporary music with Edward Gregson and Jorma Panula, Professor of Orchestral Conducting at Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy.
In 1990 Ray moved with his family to Stavanger, Norway to accept a conducting position with the Stavanger Youth Orchestra where he was able to combine regular conducting positions with guest conducting invitations, some of which were particularly exciting. The most notable were with the National Youth Bands of Norway and Norway’s premier band Eikanger Bjørsvik Musikklag. There were still frequent invitations abroad and Ray returned to many European cities. Something new, though, were two invitations to conduct in America and a concert tour of Australia.
It was during this time that he became involved with wind bands and was appointed Chief Conductor with the Trondheim Military Band and conductor of the National Youth Wind band of Norway. Other wind band conducting invitations soon followed.
In 1993 the Sandnes Symphony Orchestra appointed Ray as Chief Conductor. This gave Ray many opportunities to develop in the fields of opera, ballet and oratorio. It also opened the doors to some exciting possibilities in the greater orchestral world. He has conducted Norway’s Radio Orchestra on five occasions, made a World Wide TV programme with the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and gave an exciting concert of French music with the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra.
In 1995 Ray moved to Bergen, where he was appointed Musical Director to Eikanger Bjørsvik Musikklag. With them he has given many innovative performances of a wide variety of music on stage, TV, radio, and CD. There are now two CDs, made with EBML, with all Ray Farr arrangements called "Best by Farr".
In 2003 Ray was appointed Conductor in Residence at Durham University and is currently Director of the University’s “Centre for Brass Band Studies”. His conducting career is busier than ever including recent performances with Northern Sinfonia and Raymond Gubbay’s Orchestra and concerts in the Sage Centre and Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall.
Ray was voted “Conductor of the Year” for 2004 by the internationally acclaimed internet website www.4barsrest.com
© Copyright 2005 JAGRINS Music Publications