'Demelza', the well known soprano solo by Goff Richards has received a high profile boost to its popularity courtesy of a performance on CD and DVD by the Swedish opera singer, Carry Persson.

Album

The album 'Heroic Songs' features many popular numbers including 'You’ll Never Walk Alone, 'Te Deum' and 'Brave New World', a duet performed with José Carreras.

Delighted

Goff was delighted to hear the news and Graham Horsfield of Kirklees Music, who had been working on this venture told 4BR: "We were approached by an agent in Vienna asking for permission to record the song. Carry Persson first heard 'Demelza' at a concert in Switzerland, where he was appearing as a guest soloist with a brass band and he liked it so much he wrote lyrics and recorded it with an orchestral accompaniment."

We were approached by an agent in Vienna asking for permission to record the songDavid Horsfield

Solo

Goff composed the number at the request of the late Geoffrey Whitham and Brian Evans, as a soprano cornet solo for the Hammonds Sauce Works Band in the early 1980’s.

It has since been used extensively by both soprano cornet and tenor horn players tenor horn players as well as at the Royal Albert Hall as an oboe solo with the Royal Marines Massed Bands in the Mountbatten Festival of Music.

Carry Persson recently contacted Goff to thank him personally and said that he was to perform the number in the presence of the King and Queen of Sweden this year.