Terry Johns To Conduct Scottish Co-op Band At Broxburn

On Friday 27th February, 2009 Terry Johns will conduct the Scottish Co-op Band at a concert in which they will share the stage with the Broxburn & Livingston band at the Strathbrock Hall, Broxburn. The son of a Welsh miner, Mr. Johns has had a long and varied career in music. As a french horn player, he has distinguished himself in symphony and chamber orchestras as well as light music and jazz groups. His conducting career began for him at the age of fifteen when he conducted the Tower Colliery Band at the area finals of the "Daily Herald" contest at the Brangwyn Hall in Swansea after the bandmaster had become ill. In that same year, he composed the opening fanfare for the Youth Eisteddfod at his home town of Aberdare.

Two years later, he gained a Glamorgan scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music to study french horn with Barry Tuckwell and composition with Manuel Frankel. During his years at the Academy he met and worked with Michael Nyman and John Taverner and played several performances of their early works.

Before he was twenty-one Terry had been invited by Harry Blech to join the London Mozart Players but this appointment was short - lived as, within a matter of months, he became a member of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (an association which lasted for ten years) and a founder member of the Nash Ensemble. In addition, concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra under such eminent names as Leopold Stokowski, , Benjamin Britten and Leonard Bernstein marked the beginning of a long association with that orchestra.

Terry was eventually invited to become a permanent member of the LSO at one of the most important times in its history which included the exciting conductor laureateship of Andre Previn, the opening of the Barbican Centre, a Russian Tour with Sir Colin Davis, a world tour with Claudio Abbado, Aaron Copland's eightieth birthday concert at the Royal Festival Hall and the recording of the soundtracks for "Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom", "Raiders Of The Lost Ark" and "The Return Of The Jedi" in which he played the famous horn solo at the funeral of Darth Vader.

The actor, Robert Hardy, who arranged the memorial service for film star Richard Burton at the church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields invited Terry to arrange the final hymn ("The Battle Hymn Of The Republic") for the Rhos Cwm Tawe male voice choir and to compose a trumpet obbligato for Maurice Murphy.

However, Terry's oldest and most fervent interest is conducting and writing music for brass bands and both he and the members of Scottish Co-op Band are looking forward to the Broxburn concert which will be their first venture together.

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