BYMT XBY Concert Band with Sing! Bromley
Sunday 21st June 2020 at 4:00 pm

The band was formed in 1989, when a group of Bromley Youth Concert Band Alumni wanted to recapture the quality music making they enjoyed in the BYCB.

Since then, the band has performed in and around London and has toured extensively, gaining first prize in several competitions in the UK and Europe.  It is formed almost entirely of past BYCB members, some of which are in the music industry but most of whom have gone on to work in other fields such as accountancy, law, consultancy, teaching, banking and software development. Thus making the point that music is with you for life no matter what career you end up in. Since its formation, the band has been fortunate enough to be under the skilful leadership of its conductor, Dennis Mycroft, who taught most of the players when they were still in the Bromley Youth Music Trust.

With an age range of 18-50+ it is a true testament to the BYMT’s legacy; it is the members’ common interest in music and support for this organisation that brings so many different generations together at rehearsals, concerts, tours and many a raucous social occasion. In fact, the new Principal of the BYMT, Ian Rowe, is a member of the band himself, and XBY is delighted to see one of their own take the helm of an organisation that is so important to its players.

In 2014, XBY proudly celebrated its 25-year anniversary, an event where all members were reminded of the huge impact the BYMT and XBY has had on all their lives.

Dennis Mycroft started teaching in 1978 for what was then the Bromley Schools Music Service. During his years at Bromley he has conducted and trained many orchestras and bands; indeed some of the players in tonight’s group would have been teenagers when Dennis first started teaching part time, they are now in their 50s!

After studying as a trombonist and conducting scholar at Trinity College of Music, he played with the Richard Hickox Orchestra and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra as well as in many West End shows before developing teaching as his main career.As Head of Brass Teaching (since the early eighties he thinks!)

Dennis has trained and conducted the Bromley Youth Symphony Orchestra in many performances including all the main Tchaikovsky Symphonies, Stravinsky’s Firebird   Suite, Copland’s Billy the Kid, Holst’s Planets, Britten’s War Requiem, Jenkins’ Armed Man, Elgar’s Symphony no. 1 and Enigma Variations.  More recently he has been responsible for establishing the Band On The Run courses that are now a mainstay of BYMT’s work within the Bromley schools.

Dennis is the principal conductor of the internationally award-winning XBY Concert Band which has won Platinum awards and achieved a top ranking in the World Music Contest in Kerkrade. In October 2015 he achieved a lifetime ambition as Musical Director for BYMT’s fully-staged production of West Side Story.

He continues to teach for BYMT, working with young musicians and encouraging them to share in his passion for music

David read Music at St Catherine’s College, Oxford, where he was awarded an instrumental scholarship for the clarinet. Whilst in Oxford he played in the University Orchestra and Philharmonia, sang in the choir of Keble College and directed the University Wind Orchestra and the Arcadian Singers, one of the university’s leading chamber choirs. Upon leaving Oxford, David undertook at PGCE at Homerton College, Cambridge before taking up a music teaching position in Baldock, Hertfordshire. In 2008, he returned to his home town of Bromley to take up the position of Director of Music at Langley Park School for Boys, one of the leading state school music departments in the South East. Alongside his work at the school, he also undertakes conducting and accompanying work for the Bromley Youth Music Trust  and sings in the choir of St George’s, Beckenham.

Sing! Bromley is a daytime adult choir run by Stephanie Seeney. Open to all ages and all abilities, the choir sings a wide range of music, but focusses on popular music and showtunes. Over the last year, the choir have sung music such as Mr Blue Sky (ELO), an Oklahoma medley, Chicago the musical, Somebody to Love (Queen), Budapest (Ezra), and the Best of Broadway. The choir also sing some light classical pieces by composers such as Rutter and Chilcott.

We sing regular concerts at venues around the borough.