BT MELODIANS CELEBRATES 20TH ANNIVERSARY

NEWS coming out of London, England recently, highlighted the celebration of 20 years’ continuous performance by the BT Melodians Steel Orchestra.

This year’s special celebrations took the form of a concert on October 06 at York Gardens Library, Battersea, and featured Mr. Robert Thompson of Arima as the Guest
Composer/Arranger.
Founded in 1987 by Arimian, Terrence “Terry” Noel, the band has a rich history of sterling performances and represents the UK as Cultural Ambassadors abroad. It boasts appearances in disparate places and locales as: Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace Grounds, Royal Albert Hall, The Long Room at Lord’s Cricket Ground (in aid of the Lord’s Taverniers), North Korea and South Korea, Azerbaijan on three occasions (the most recent in September at Slavic University Baku, where BT Melodians conducted workshop sessions with students and music teachers), Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Warsaw (for the Queen’s Birthday Party at the British Embassy) and Russia, to cite a few.

Thompson has visited several cities in London and the Irish Republic assisting Noel in setting up Schools’ Orchestras through tutorials and workshops. Indeed, just before the Concert event, he set the ground-work for a Schools Steelband Music festival in Hertfordshire to be held in June 2008.

Trinidad & Tobago’s First Secretary at the High Commission to London Mr. Donald Chambers made a presentation on behalf of The High Commissioner, Her Excellency Mrs. Glenda Morean-Phillip. Mrs. Pam Farmer, BT’s Representative, handed out gifts and prizes to members of the Orchestra in various categories and a special gift to Thompson for his contributions to the advancement of the art form in the UK.