4BR has been informed of the death of trumpet player, composer and conductor, Roger Payne, who died on 27th June. He was 68.

Roger played soprano with the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain whilst a member of his first band, Copthorne Silver, and later studied trumpet and composition at the Guildhall before going on to study with Roger Delmotte in Paris.

Orchestral performer

He played with the London Festival Ballet, London Philharmonic, Menuhin Festival and Welsh National Opera Orchestras before becoming Principal Trumpet with the Northern Sinfonia where he remained in post for over twenty years. After locating to Newcastle, he considered himself a naturalised Geordie.

Composer

In the early 1970s, he wrote two pieces for brass band; 'Lambert's Leap' (about characters in a pub frequented by musicians) and 'Dance Sequence' — the latter intended to be ballet music performed by amateurs, and which is dedicated to the Copthorne Band.

Roy Newsome was an advocate of Roger's music, broadcasting both works on Radio 3, whilst Roger also brought both pieces to the Ever Ready Band as well as introducing them to 'Brass Quartet 1972' originally written for orchestral brass.

Ever Ready played this at the 1973 National Quartet Championship, gaining the runner-up spot, whilst the City of Coventry Quartet won with it the following year and used it again to win in 1978, 1980 and 1981 (the last year of the original contest).

It was used successfully once more at the first British Open Quartet Championship in 1988, creating an unusual hat-trick.

He also composed a second quartet, 'Capriccio' for City of Coventry, a quartet for tubas, 'Suite in Blue' and 'Three Pieces for Four Trombones', commissioned by the William Davis Group trombone section.

Another commission was 'Dolphin Variations' which was the set-work for the 1983 Rothmans Contest.

Conductor

From 1982 to 2000, Roger was heavily involved in conducting bands alongside his trumpet playing and orchestral conducting, including Ever Ready, National Smokeless Fuels (Fishburn),North Skelton, Newcastle Brown Ale, Northumbria Police and Houghton, as well as the likes of Wingates, Ransomes and Kinneil Colliery.

He directed National Smokeless Fuels to the North of England Championship Section Area title in 1988, as well as winning a brace of Second Section titles with Houghton and Newcastle Brown Ale Bands in 1985 and 1990 respectively.

He also directed Ever Ready to a highly commendable fifth place off the number 1 draw at the 1982 National Finals.

He directed National Smokeless Fuels to the North of England Championship Section Area title in 1988, as well as winning a brace of Second Section titles with Houghton and Newcastle Brown Ale Bands in 1985 and 1990 respectively4BR

Strauss addict

He was also appointed MD of the City of Oxford Orchestra performing and broadcasting as both conductor and soloist. As a self confessed Strauss addict, he conducted every traditional Viennese New Year Concert (but one) with the orchestra over a 33 year span.

In 1990, he founded 'La Rejouissance', a virtuoso baroque trumpet ensemble performing the music of the 17th century, the vast majority of which he painstakingly reconstructed from the collections of Philador, the librarian of Louis XIV.

Mozart

Ill health caused his retirement from the concert platform in 2008 and he spent the rest of his life writing a book about the construction and harmonic language of Mozart's Piano Concerti.

Funeral

He died peacefully in his sleep in hospital after a series of battles with a variety of illnesses. He is survived by his second wife Sandra and two sons, Roger and Andrew.

Funeral details are not yet finalised but will be on 30th July at Whitley Bay.