Salvation Army International Brass Band Visit Wrexham This Weekend

Brass band fans can watch a trio of performances from The Salvation Army’s International Staff Band in Wrexham this weekend.

The band is playing a concert at St Giles Church at 7pm this evening (Saturday 20th May). Admission to the event is £10.

Tomorrow – Sunday 21st May – the band will be leading worship at 10.30am and 3pm at Wrexham Salvation Army in Garden Road.

The visit of the band marks a homecoming for two Wrexham men who play in trombone section of the band. Stephen Williams and Johnathan Evans both played with Wrexham Salvation Army band and went to school locally.

Led by Dr Stephen Cobb, who is also the Salvation Army’s Music Director for the United Kingdom Territory with the Republic of Ireland, the International Staff Band is one of the most revered in the brass band world.

The band participates in most major Salvation Army events held in venues including London’s Royal Albert Hall, Wembley Conference Centre and Royal Festival Hall. It is featured frequently in national television and radio broadcasts including BBC Songs of Praise, Radio 2’s Sunday Half Hour and Listen to the Band.

The band has also released numerous audio collections of Salvation Army music, including a collaboration with Black Dyke Band to produce a double CD recording of the published works of Wilfred Heaton (The Heaton Collection). This recording has received critical acclaim from the brass band world’s leading publications, several of which selected it as their CD of the Year in 2002.

In addition to their activities in the UK, the International Staff Band tours abroad regularly with trips to America, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan undertaken in recent years.

The band is widely regarded as the premier band of the Salvation Army and is greatly admired in the brass band world. It has represented Salvation Army bands at the National Brass Band Championships’ Gala Concerts in the Royal Albert Hall, London, as well as at other significant brass banding occasions.

These occasions have seen them sharing the platform with groups such as Black Dyke Band, Symphonic Brass of London and the Don Lusher Big Band. On such occasions the band has been privileged to play in some of the countries finest concert venues including; The Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, The Sage [Gateshead], Birmingham Symphony Hall and The Barbican. Other notable venues have included Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral and Buckingham Palace.

Further information can be found here.