The Band of His Majesty’s Royal Marines return to the Chichester stage

SussexWorld

Captain Phil Trudgeon has probably taken part in the Chichester Festival Theatre Christmas concerts seven or eight times in the past, probably most recently in around 2010.

Transcript

00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Now, goodness,

00:06this comes around incredibly quickly, doesn't it? The Chichester Festival Theatre Christmas

00:11Concerts, which, as ever, combine the band of the Royal Marines and the Chichester Cathedral

00:16Choir. Now, lovely to speak to Captain Phil Trudgeon, Director of Music. Now, you have

00:21a history of having appeared in these concerts on stage a number of times, a little while

00:26ago. This is your first time conducting. It must be a lovely thought to be back on

00:31the stage.

00:32Yeah, it's great. It's a concert that I've always had such good memories of and I'm really

00:38excited to come back. I mean, I played as a percussionist before I was commissioned

00:43to a conductor, to a director of music, and the Chichester was such a joyous event to

00:52be part of. And the band really, really enjoy it. And yeah, I've done solos there over the

00:57years, so featured with different directors of music and different choirs. And I think

01:05it's always been the Chichester Cathedral Choir, but we've had a number of speakers

01:08which, you know, which were, so it's changed quite a lot over the years, more the band

01:14and the choir. But when I first joined, there was a lot of poetry and Christmas stories,

01:19which was lovely.

01:20Absolutely. But tell me, what makes it so special, this event? And people really do

01:24look forward to it, don't they?

01:26Yeah, I think it's the, most of our events, it's the people who come to watch it. It's

01:32the public, it's the reaction, it's the, you know, the hard kind of enthusiasts who get

01:41excited and want to come and watch us and support us. And those reactions that we have,

01:46those conversations that we have, we always like to, myself and the bandmaster will always

01:50try to speak to as many of the audience when they leave, which is always the best thing

01:56to do. But Chichester is such a special concert for us, a great venue, lovely people, and

02:04the way that they set up the theatre with the Christmas trees is just beautiful.

02:08It always looks absolutely superb, doesn't it? So when it comes to thinking about the

02:11programme, what are the things that you're juggling in your mind that you really want

02:15to put across about the band and these concerts?

02:20Well, I think we have to keep it light and entertaining, and people need to leave with

02:25a smile on their face. And I think what helps the audience is seeing us enjoying ourselves.

02:32So I've got to think about the music for the band, that they enjoy it, that it's

02:37challenging enough for them, while still, you know, primarily thinking about the audience,

02:43because the audience, the paying customer, they come, they want to see a show, they

02:47want to see us enjoying ourselves. And yeah, Christmas is just, it's just a joyous time

02:52of year, isn't it? So we try to kind of get into the Christmas spirit. And of course,

02:56we have to rehearse for these things early. So, you know, for example, today, I've been

03:01doing some Christmas rehearsals for another concert, you know, so at the beginning of

03:06November, start thinking about Christmas music. And I've been probably thinking about it

03:10for a few months before that into the summer, really kind of thinking about music. And if

03:15we need to get some music ordered, you've got to really think in advance.

03:18You just know it's going to be fabulously worth it when the time actually comes. Now,

03:23in the background, you're telling me there's something serious going on with the band,

03:26isn't there? You have a challenge, a really important challenge for one of your members,

03:31and you are raising money. Fill me in.

03:35Yeah, so one of our members was diagnosed with motor neurone disease, which is obviously

03:41extremely heartbreaking for the band when we when we when we heard about this news.

03:48But in typical Royal Marine fashion, the band turned this negative experience and they've

03:55gone away and they thought of a challenge. It's called hashtag 26 for Soph. And the band,

04:01the idea was to raise £26,000. She she was she was diagnosed with motor neurone disease

04:07when she was 26 years old. So the theme that the the members came up with was anything

04:14any kind of challenge around 26. So some people have climbed 26 mountains or some people have

04:21done 26 mile runs or 260 miles on a on a bike and all these kind of different ideas.

04:29And so, I mean, the target was £26,000.

04:36Oh, you've just frozen there. We've just looked and you are currently at £64,000,

04:41which is fabulous, a fabulous achievement. It seems sadly I've lost you for the moment,

04:46but Captain Phil, really lovely to speak to you. And the Chichester Festival

04:51Theatre Christmas concerts are coming up at the start of December. Lovely to talk to you.

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